For daring to scratch the car of a female magistrate, a mother of three, Yetunde Osijo, has found herself at the Kirikiri Prison in Lagos State, after the learned lady, Funke Sule-Hamzat, had her arrested charged to court and remanded in custody. It was gathered that the incident occurred at the Ogba area of the state, when Osijo's car had a slight collision with Sule-Hamzat’s car leading to an argument and claims of right of way.
Thinking
that the incident had been solved by other road users, Osijo reportedly
entered her car and drove away, only to be pursued to Surulere by the
Sule-Hamzat’s who got her arrested by the police and was later charged
to the Ogudu Magistrates Court where she presides over, and she promptly
ordered that Osijo be remanded to teach her a lesson.
According to Osijo’s husband, Dipo,
Sule-Hamzat’s driver, was actually the one who bumped into his wife's
car, but the furious magistrate ordered that his wife be arrested and
taken to her court, where she promptly ordered that she be remanded in
Kirikiri Prison without giving her the opportunity to get a lawyer.
“From information I gathered from eyewitnesses, it was the magistrate’s driver that was wrong at the time of the minor accident. Yetunde, assumed she would be asked to leave, only to realise that Sule-Hamzat’s car was chasing her from behind.
She only started driving in January it was just a traffic offence that resulted in a minor scratch.
The
magistrate and her driver chased my wife and when they caught up with
her, she was arraigned and sent to prison on Monday, March 21, at about
5:30pm."
But the Chief Registrar of Lagos State High Court, Emmanuel Ogundare, said the account of what happened as told by Dipo Osijo was far from the truth.
“How
can a magistrate in Lagos, involved in an accident, order the arrest of
the other party and arraign her in own court? This is 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.”
