An 84-year-old woman, whose two foster sons have been in Ikoyi Prison in Lagos State since last year, has implored the Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, and the state Chief Judge to probe the matter because the men are innocent.
According to the old woman, Alhaja Basirat Alogba Ifeshile, the men are presently being detained at Ikoyi Prison over allegations of conspiracy to commit rape, robbery and armed robbery.
The inmates, Morufu and his brother, Adefewope, were arrested on March 26, 2014.
The octogenarian, who is also the head of the Odo-Onasa royal family in Ikorodu, Lagos State, urged the state government to reinvestigating the matter with a view to releasing the men.
Ifeshile argued that the suspects were framed by a notorious land grabber who wanted to silence every opposition in the family so as to have a total claim over all the landed properties belonging to the family.
The octogenarian, who spoke through an interpreter, said: “My sons did not commit any crime.
“On the day that it was claimed the robbery happened, my boys and our lawyer were at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Lagos office for a case.
“How can people who went to EFCC office in Ikoyi, commit robbery?
“I want Governor Ambode to call for the file and get the case to be reinvestigated.
“My kids are innocent and wasting away in prison.”
Ifeshile, who battled tears with handkerchief during the course of the interview, noted that the continued detention of her children in prison was giving her sleepless nights.
Ifeshile said: “I’m sorrowful and bitter at heart that my children who ought to be taking proper care of their aged mother are languishing in prison for offence they never committed.
“I pray that the Governor would have a listening ear and unite me with my sons before anything happens to me.”
Ifeshile’s claims that the suspects were at the premises of the EFCC were confirmed by a senior officer of the anti-graft agency who said he was with the suspects on that fateful day.
The officer, who pleaded for anonymity, noted that the EFCC wrote a letter to that effect to the Director of Public Prosecution and the police.
The Baale of the area, Chief Jimoh Balogun, also called on Ambode to constitute a discrete investigation into the case with a view to ascertaining the veracity of the matter.
Balogun added that the case was purely a land matter, but the opponents had allegedly bribed security personnel to tilt the matter against Morufu and Adefewope.
A letter of protest to the Lagos State Attorney General by one of the suspect’s lawyer, Olujimi Oluseyi Olaniyi, a principal partner at the Trite Law Partners, Surulere, Lagos State, urged the Chief Law Officer to reinvestigate the case to ensure that innocent persons were not treated unjustly.
Olaniyi alleged that the suspects had been denied bail several times at the Magistrate Court, which remanded them in prison custody.
But the Attorney General, in a letter to the Commissioner of Police in the state, argued that the plea of alibi could not be investigated because the victim duly recognized the suspects who were not masked and described the clothes the suspects wore on the fateful day.
A letter dated March 5, 2015, signed by Director of Public Prosecution, E. I. Alakija, in argued that all the ingredients of the offence of rape, conspiracy to commit robbery and armed robbery were present in the cases as there is evidence linking the suspects.
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