Court orders police to produce suspects on Oct. 23

Justice Ipaye made the order following the absence of the defendants in court for their arraignment. The prosecutor was also absent. The police have, on three occasions, failed to produce the defendants in court. The defendants are Buhari Oloto, Tomori Williams, Adeyemi Adewale, Jimoh Jafar, Kunle Olajide, Chief Edward Ajayi, Adejumo Tajudeen, Abeden Akinoki, Lukeman Bakari, Junaid Akeem, Ogundele Olatunji and Alawe Adeniyi. The defendants are to face a three–count charge of unlawful interference of property, forcible entry and forcible possession of land belonging to the estate of late Madam Efunroye Tinubu. According to the charge, the defendants also unlawfully interfered with and forged the title documents of vast expance of land belonging to the Registered Trustees of the Estate of late Madam Efunroye Tinubu located at the the Alaka area of Lagos. The alleged offences, according to the prosecution, were contrary to Sections 52, 53 and 338 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2011. The investigating police officer, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Paul Ajayi, who was present during the proceedings, told the court that the case was filed last November 7, and that the defendants were granted administrative bail. Ajayi said, “My Lord, when the case was set to be prosecuted, I received a directive to transfer the original case file to Abuja and that is why the file is not before the court. “The file was transferred to the office of the DIG since November, 2016 and has not been returned”, he said. However, the judge, who queried Ajayi over the manner in which the prosecution team was handling the matter, said: “You are the ones interested in this matter and this is not the best way to carry out such duties. “You should communicate this information to whoever is in charge because if the file was transferred to Abuja, what then brings you before this court? “I’ll give you one more opportunity on the October 23 for arraignment after which the matter would be struck out”, Justice Ipaye added.]]>