17 Years Old Detainee, Delivered Of A Baby Boy May Be Freed This Week

By Ayodele Oni

There are indications that  Kemisola Oguniyi, 17, who was delivered of a baby boy in Prison, may be freed this week.

Kemisola was arrested during last year’s endSARS protest in Ondo state and has since been kept, among others, in prison custody.

Lawyer to the teenage mother, Mr Tope Temokun, disclosed in Akure, the State capital on Saturday, that all necessary steps have been taken to secure her release, as well as that of  others, eight months after the protests took place.

According to the lawyer, “following our letters of  17th of June 2021, to the Honourable Attorney-General of Ondo State and the Honourable Chief Judge of Ondo State on this matter, we sought audience with the office of the AG and went into a long meeting with the Honourable Attorney-General of Ondo State, Sir Charles Titiloye on this matter.

The meeting in the office of the AG ended around 4pm on Saturday.

“The AG expressed his passionate interest in seeing Kemisola out on bail without delay. The AG took steps to reach out for an earlier date for the hearing of the bail applications filed for Kemisola and three others, while the case of Kemisola will be taken as a case of urgency and showed genuine concern to see Kemisola leave prison to take care of her baby at home.

“We, therefore, agreed on few other fast-tracking steps which took us to the office of the Honourable Chief Judge for further steps.

“We got good assurances from the office of Chief Judge that Kemisola needed to be out before the bail applications would be taken as it would be a longer process if we had to wait for the normal routine procedural steps.

“It was resolved and advised we do a letter of application which we drafted and submitted immediately around 6pm, outside office hour, applying directly to the Chief Judge, even when there is already another judge assigned on the case, for a special consideration of an administrative bail for Kemisola as a matter of urgency so that she could take her child home.

“The office of the Chief Judge worked outside the office hour on this application yesterday under the directive of the Chief Judge and the supervision of the Chief Registrar and we left the premises of the office of the CJ around 6:30pm yesterday, after putting all necessary things in perfect place for Kemisola to leave prison on Monday.

“I state that we were not the lawyers in this case till the 2nd of April, 2021. But from the record we inherited, Kemisola and others were arrested on the 22nd of October 2020 and taken to custody by the police, before being charged to the Magistrate Court in Akure which declined jurisdiction on the case based on the gravity of the offences, which include arson and the rest.

“Kemisola and others were therefore remanded in prison custody in Surulere, Ondo, while their case file was forwarded to the office of the DPP Ondo State for Legal Advice.

“When the legal advice was out, charges were filed against them afresh at the High Court, Akure. Up till this time in question, Kemisola’s case has not come to our office and we were therefore not the lawyer in the case till the 2nd of April, 2021 when the parents of Kemisola and the three others came to our Akure office to brief us, following which we demanded for letters of instruction from them before we accepted to take up the matter pro bono, free of charges.

“The 2nd of June was Friday and while we were touched by their stories and waiting impatiently for the weekend to go by for us to swing to action, Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) declared indefinite nationwide strike which halted all efforts that could be taken legally to secure her release.

“It is important to say, that since we took over this case, the case has not come up in any court, till the JUSUN strike was called off on the 15th of June 2021 and the next day, the 16th of June 2021, we were in court to file the bail application by summons, with an affidavit of urgency, with Kemisola’s mother, when the call came through that Kemisola was in labour before being delivered of a baby boy!

“In addition to this, we did not relent or wait for protocol, we also wrote letters to the Hon. Attorney-General of Ondo state and the Hon. Chief Judge of Ondo state, presenting different demands on behalf of our client, Kemisola, for speedy action and result.

“Due to the touching nature of the case and the increasing public interest and the concern by many Nigerians, lawyers, organizations which include but not limited to the NBA branches of Akure and Ondo and beyond, we have deemed it fit to intimate and update our colleagues and the general public on this case this afternoon.

“As God liveth, by Monday hopefully, Kemisola would leave the prison and go home and the seven days’ ceremony of child-naming of Kemisola’s son will not take place in the prison yard.”