Rape allegation against Baba Ijesha not true, says Police

A Senior officer at the Lagos state Police Command has said contrary to news going round that embattled Nollywood actor, Olanrewaju Omiyinka, aka Baba Ijesha, raped a minor, investigation into the allegation revealed that he did not defile the victim.

The senior police officer stated, “There was no case of defilement, people are just talking out of sentiment. They are not talking from the point of law. We interviewed all parties involved in the case for three hours on Wednesday.

“The mother complained that her child was at the age of seven when she was defiled and the child pointed at Baba Ijesha. But the case was not reported until she was 14 years and under the law, the case has become statute-barred.

“Regarding this new case, the CCTV footage has been assessed and nowhere was it captured that Baba Ijesha defiled her. The footage only showed him touching the victim’s body but it never showed him having any sexual intercourse with the girl. The girl also confirmed the same thing.

“So, in law, it is a case of indecent assault and not sexual harassment, and it is open to bail.  So, can we continue to keep him when the offence is subject to bail and when there is no court sitting? That is against his fundamental human rights and the police do not work on sentiments. Directives have been given out for his release on bail.”

The source, however, said that despite granting Omiyinka bail, investigation would continue, adding that the command had also sought legal opinion from the state Ministry of Justice.

“The CCTV footage never showed Baba Ijesha defiling her, but he confessed to touching her body indecently and apologised, and the girl confirmed the same.

Meanwhile, popular comedienne, Adekola Adekanya, aka Princess, narrated details of the incident during a live broadcast on Instagram on Wednesday.

During the broadcast, she said people, who were compassionate about her childlessness, entrusted the victim and five other children to her care, adding that after Omiyinka allegedly defiled the minor, she started behaving strangely.

“My friend talked to the child again to know what was going on, she told us what happened, I was shocked… I called the CCTV Company to set a camera, we asked everybody to go out and stay in a neighbour’s house, she (the victim) was afraid, we said she should calm down…

“He came in and saw that there was nobody at home and I told him I want to see DSTV people off and I will stay long…I dropped my phone, went out and locked the door. Two seconds later, he stood up, begin to check my whole house to be sure that none of the children were inside sleeping.