Popular Yoruba comic, Babatunde Omidina (aka Baba Suwe) has for the past two weeks been a guest of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) over allegations of drug trafficking. In this piece, OLAOLU OLADIPO examines the issues surrounding the case, the twists and turns as well as the controversies generated
To avid viewers of Yoruba home video flicks regularly churned out in the Yoruba genre of Nollywood, the name Babatunde Nurudeen Omidina may not strike any cord but mention Baba Suwe then you invoke a passion of a popular humour merchant who for almost three decades have established himself in the ever evolving entertainment industry.
Hardly do producers churn out their flicks without Baba Suwe featuring prominently, ditching out jokes that serve as comic relief for viewers escaping the nation’s numerous challenging situations. Over time he has established himself as one of the leading Yoruba comic of note.
Unfortunately, a new twist was added when news went round that the ace comedian was arrested two weeks ago on his way to Paris by men of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) having been suspected of ingesting wraps of substances believed to be cocaine when the scanner employed by the anti-drug agency allegedly detected it.
According to reports, he was in a Paris bound flight to attend a christening ceremony of an unnamed staff of a popular international airline when he was ‘caught’ but when cornered by journalists after his arrest two Wednesdays ago, the Commander of NDLEA in charge of the MMIA, Alhaji Hamza Umar, was quoted as saying that, “Mr. Omidina Babatunde was in safe custody.
Since then, Omidina has remained the guest of the anti-drug agency where he has been subjected to series of measures aimed at making him offload the offensive substance allegedly ingested. Thrice he has been asked to empty his bowels and on those occasions, no trace of the drug has been found in his excreta.
Apparently perplexed by the turn of events that have seen the ace comic in his agency’s cell for more than a week, Spokesman of NDLEA, Mr. Mitchell Ofoyeju, and the Director-General, Mr. Femi Ajayi, have had to come out to justify Omidina’s continued detention.
Ofojeku at a well attended media briefing insisted that Omidina would not have been picked up by his office if the scanner had not revealed that he had the drug in his system. He had said, “Baba Suwe is still in our custody and under observation. Since he was arrested Wednesday, he has excreted twice. First, he excreted on Friday and we did not find any drug and on Saturday he excreted again, still we did not find any drug.”
Reports have it that Omidina made the first excretion two Fridays ago, two days after his arrest while he made the second and third excretions last Saturday and Monday respectively but with no traces of drug in them.
Justifying the decision of NDLEA for the continued detention for what the agency termed ‘continued observation’, the spokesman added, “It is normal because we would not have arrested him if the scanner did not show that he has something in his system. We have had people who stayed longer before they started excreting; so, we are still observing him.
It is just that we are now doing our investigation on this particular suspect on the pages of newspapers.”
Last Monday, Ajayi said in a televised interview that Baba Suwe would be released if the report of the Computerised Tomography Scan (CT scan) and his third excretion showed proved to be negative.
Curiously enough, the equipment used for carrying out the scanning is believed to be one of the most sophisticated x-ray body scanning machines available for drug detection. It was donated to the agency by the United States of America sometimes in 2009 to aid its operations. Owing to its efficacy, the machine was discovered to be more effective than the previously used intrusive whole body / strip searches.
Called SOTER RS Security Body Scanner, the machine has the capacity to scan a whole body, clothing or to conduct body search just as it can also detect substance hidden in or outside the human body within just 10 seconds.
On the legal implications of Baba Suwe’s continued detention without trial and the likelihood that no substance was found on him, Ofoyeju said the agency would not pre-empt such possible actions.
In an apparent show of solidarity for their own, his colleagues led by Prince Jide Kosoko had planned a rally to garner support for him but organizers had to put it off in the last minutes owing to advise from numerous legal practitioners handling the case.
Speaking to newsmen on the intention of organisers, Kosoko said “We intend to stage a massive protest, but we have been advised by legal practitioners to stay action till the
NDLEA has concluded its investigations.”
Kosoko hinted on the next line of action should the comic be found not liable for the offense, the veteran actor in a fit of emotionally laden but optimistic tone declared, “Whether they like it or not they owe us that explanation and we shall demand it when the time comes.”
Apart from associates and friends, supports have been coming from other quarters notably from the legal profession, where a cross section of legal practitioners has described his continued detention as a breach of his fundamental human rights.
Those who have added their voice to the call for his release include the immediate past Secretary of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, Malachy Ugwummadu, condemned the unlawful detention of the suspect.
Addressing journalists last Monday on the state of the nation, ahead of the forthcoming fourth Annual Law and Social Development Lecture scheduled for October 24, he said the security agencies in the country had been incapacitated by the defective structures of governance.
His views tallied with those of Bamidele Aturu who argued that detaining him for more than 24 hours without charging him to court constituted a breach of his human rights maintaining that it was unconstitutional for NDLEA to continually hold on to him, while waiting for him ease himself of exhibits that would generate the much awaited evidence for his prosecution.
A Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja has ordered the NDLEA to bring him to court on November 1, 2011, sequel to a N100 million suit against the agency over his arrest and detention where he is seeking a declaration that his arrest was in gross violation of his rights.
Delivering her ruling on, the trial judge, Justice Yetunde Idowu ordered the agency to produce Omidina physically in court following an application by his counsel, Bamidele Aturu, pursuant to Order IV Rules 3 and 4 of the Fundamental Human Rights Enforcement Procedure Rules 2009 for the unconditional release of his client.
Opposing the application, the agency’s counsel, Femi Oloruntoba, stated that series of medical examinations had been carried out since Baba Suwe’s arrest, which revealed that the applicant had a large amount of drug in his stomach, which he would excrete, even if it took a long period of time as it had been so with some of its suspects.
In the end, the trial judge held that the court security would be able to control any crowd and there would not be a problem.
The 53-year-old Omidina who lost his wife Monsura, on September 3, 2009 was born on August 22, 1958. Little is known about his education but he began plying his comic trade late
in the 1980s and has succeeded in establishing himself as one of the leading Yoruba comedians, for this he has won many laurels. In January 2005, he received an award from the African Artists and Entertainers Afro-Hollywood Award in New York; (Africa’s version of the Grammy).
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