A mother of three, Mrs. Yetunde Osijo, has narrated how a minor traffic incident between her and a magistrate, Funke Sule-Hamzat resulted in her arrest even when she was not the person at fault.
A magistrate in Lagos has allegedly used her power to intimidate a young woman by having her thrown into prison for brushing her car.
According to Vanguard, a minor traffic incident that occurred at Oworonsoki area of Lagos, led to Osijo’s arraignment and subsequent detention in Kirikiri prison.
It was gathered that the Magistrate who used the power of her office, had pursued Osijo after their cars brushed until she caught up with her and forced the police to have her arrested without even wanting to hear anything from her.
According to Osijo’s husband, Dipo, Sule-Hamzat’s driver, who is a magistrate at the Ogudu Magistrate Court, allegedly bumped into Osijo’s car, but the furious magistrate ordered that Osijo be arrested and taken to her court, and later remanded in Kirikiri Prison without giving her the opportunity to get a lawyer.
Dipo said: “From information I gathered from eyewitnesses, it was the magistrate’s driver that was wrong at the time of the minor accident. “Yetunde, who bumped into the magistrate’s car assumed she would be asked to leave only to realise that Sule-Hamzat’s car was chasing her from behind.”
However, the woman has been released after the family was able to perfect the bail conditions. She was granted bail in the sum of N100,000 and a surety.
Speaking on the matter, the Chief Registrar of Lagos State High Court, Mr. Emmanuel Ogundare, said the entire story as told by Mr Osijo was far from the truth.
He said: “How can a magistrate in Lagos, involved in an accident, order the arrest of the other party and arraign her in own court?
“This a judicial officer, who knows the implication of such actions. It was unfortunate that contrary to the report, the case was brought before Magistrate A. Elias, who sits in Ogba Chief Magistrate’s Court, that has the jurisdiction to handle the case from the area the accident happened.
“Can we say because she is a judicial officer, she is not entitled to complain to the police or be heard when her rights is trampled upon?
“The lady in question was arrested in Surulere, from Ogba where the incident occurred and taken to the police station, where her statement was taken.
“She was subsequently arraigned and granted bail in the sum of N100,000 with one surety in like sum, which is the least bail condition for such offence.”
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