Latest On Baba Suwe , NDLEA Cocaine Case : Babatunde Omidina Appeals At The Supreme Court

The latest on the cocaine trafficking
saga of comic Nollywood actor
Babatunde Omidina aka Baba Suwe is
that the actor has officially filed an
appeal at the Supreme Court against
the decision of the Court of Appeal to
quash the N25 million awarded as
damages to him against the National
Drug Law Enforcement Agency,
NDLEA.
Baba Suwe's counsel, Bamidele Aturu
filed the appeal at the Supreme Court
on Friday.
Aturu is seeking an order from the
Supreme Court setting aside the
decision of the Court of Appeal and
affirming the decision of the lower
court.
The High Court of Lagos had ordered
the NDLEA to pay Baba Suwe N25
million as damages after he was
incarcerated for many days for alleged
possession of hard drugs, but the
Appeal Court set aside the High
Court's judgment in the matter.
In the appeal filed, Baba Suwe
contended that the Court of Appeal
ought to have affirmed the High Court
judgement since the NDLEA has no
power under the Constitution or
under any law to keep a person in
detention without bringing him to
court within the period provided for
in section 35 of the Constitution.
He argued that the fact that the
respondent claimed to be
investigating the allegation of
commission of crime against the
Appellant is not a warrant for
breaching the unambiguous provision
of section 35 of the Constitution of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as
amended, saying that the evidence
that another person who was arrested
three days after the arrest of the
Appellant excreted on the second and
third day 60 wraps of drugs.
"That the Appellant did not excrete
any banned substance ought to have
led the Court of Appeal to conclude
that the detention of the Appellant for
19 days was unreasonable.
"There was no legally admissible basis
to justify the detention of the
Applicant beyond the period
stipulated in section 35 of the
Constitution of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria, 1999, as amended. The
safeguard provided by law against a
suspect absconding is bail and not
indefinite detention without trial as
suggested by the Court of Appeal," he
stated.
[Report with Kazeem Ugbodaga, PM
News Lagos ]