Crime
Baba Ijesha speaks for first time from detention, makes fine point of ‘molest, rape’
Speaking for the first time since police detained at Panti Police Station, Yaba, Lagos, for raping a minor, Olanrewaju James aka Baba Ijesha said he was set up.
He spoke through his Nollywood colleague, Yomi Fabiyi, who led a protest for his release May 12.
According to him, Baba Ijesha denied raping any seven-year-old girl.
When Yomi asked him what happened, Baba Ijesha said, ‘Yomi, I never did. Princess brought a general to harass me. I didn’t sleep with this girl seven years ago.’ At that time, Princess was also in marriage.
“The first time I met this girl was at a garage and touts were harassing me for money. How could I have slept with her?”
That was about the only statements attributed to the suspects.
Yomi was only speaking for him in the video.
He insisted Baba Ijesha is not a pedophile, that he never had canal knowledge of the teenager.
“The girl never at any time said Baba Ijesha raped her. The girl said she was not raped. What happened is sexual assault,” Yomi said.
“Pedophiles don’t go for adult teenagers, the majority don’t know what it (Pedophile) is. Not to talk of somebody who is an adult.
“You watched a child being molested for 30 minutes, somebody must pay for that. He (Baba Ijesha) said four men beat him to a stupor when they rushed in (in the leaked video). He said he could barely hear anything when they were asking him questions; that all he could hear was ‘molest’, ‘molest’.
“He didn’t conceptualise the ‘molest’ in the face of the law. He thought it was the normal way that we play with it. He needed to save his life. Then, he was scared that they could kill him. What if the man died in that process?
“A child cannot understand why you will ask her to submit her body and play along with somebody she does not know. I don’t want lies. I want a genuine case to be established.”
The police said Baba Ijesha will remain in custody until the judicial workers currently on strike resume duty.