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Ola, a panel beater who goes by the name Ola, was released from prison after serving 8 years for failing to stop soldiers pursuing suspected criminals.
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The heartbreaking tale was posted online by Headfort foundation, a non-governmental organization that assisted in achieving Ola’s release. Please read on.
In Lagos State, Nigeria, Ola was a panel beater in Alaba.
On his way home from work one day in May 2014, Ola noticed some people running past him. Soldiers sprinted after the individuals a little while later. He was shocked when the troops stormed back and demanded to know why he hadn’t stopped the people running past him. He told the soldiers that he didn’t know who they were or why they were running, therefore he couldn’t have simply stopped them.
The troops were even more enraged by his reply, so they carried him to base. The soldiers took him to the police station and reported that he didn’t stop the persons they were chasing from escaping because the senior officer at the barracks wouldn’t let them hold him at the barracks
When he was unable to meet bail demands, the officers at Orile Police Station transferred him along with other suspects to SARS Office Ikeja, where he was later prosecuted to Court for the offense of Armed Robbery.
The family members tried their best to secure him legal counsel. After a while, they were unable to continue making payments, so the lawyer canceled his scheduled appearance.
Since 2014, he had been held without a lawyer until July 2022, when he called the Headfort Foundation and spoke with a representative to discuss his situation.
Awolu Itunuoluwa Ruth, one of our attorneys, took his brief and tracked his case to the Lagos State High Court TBS. She started defending him without charge.
Like every other day that his case had been scheduled for a trial, there was no witness on Tuesday. The prosecution informed the court that they planned to summon police officers as official witnesses, but they were unfamiliar with the witnesses and lacked their contact information or any ways of contacting them.
Ola, who had been imprisoned since 2014 while waiting for his trial, was released right away by the court, and the accusations against him were dropped.
