By Yetunde Arebi,

I am not usually swayed so easily by stories I come across on the social media platforms, especially the ones with political twists and undertones that get most people in a frenzy for nothing. The same goes for stories with S.O.S. messages. However, the last couple of weeks have witnessed some very interesting developments that one cannot ignore or even wish away after reading. First, it was the Ese Oruru story that got everyone commenting.

Love

And just as we were about to heave a sigh of relief that sanity had returned, the sexual abuse story allegedly involving a male teacher and a JSS 2 student of the prestigious Queen’s College, Lagos broke out. Then, the daggers were drawn again. This time, not necessarily for what the male teacher is alleged to have done with the young student, a minor, but with the alleged inaction and seeming support of the school authority, personified by the Principal and Vice Principal.

While this was still raging, another case involving the physical abuse of a minor was released unto social media. The location this time was Eva Adelaja Memorial Secondary School, Bariga, Lagos, where a team of five teachers and the school Principal, making a total of six adults, allegedly flogged a female student on her bare back and buttocks for daring to return a slap on the face by the Head Girl of the school.

The accompanying pictures of the poor girl’s torn flesh were enough to send chills down one’s spine. Then, as if all these were not enough, last Tuesday, I woke up to read a post on the group chat of the “We The Women Association”, a women’s advocacy group I belong to. It was posted by one of the members who said the victims in the post are close pals to a friend and would be grateful for any assistance we could render towards freeing the young mother of 3-year-old twin boys and getting her justice.

My heart immediately went out to this woman identified as Yetunde Osijo for a number of reasons. 1. That she had two little children, whom she must obviously have been unceremoniously yanked from after she was bundled off to Kirikiri Prison. 2. I love twins and have always nursed the desire to have them.

In fact, should I be assured that a pregnancy right now would produce a set of twins, even with my advanced aged, I wouldn’t mind risking it all. I simply have a soft spot for them and anyone connected with them. 3. That a woman was sent to Kirikiri Prison over a minor road accident that neither resulted in the total destruction of the car nor loss of lives of the occupants. 4. The mention of a magistrate and the drama that led to Mrs. Osijo’s journey to Kirikiri.

It was only natural that I would also re-post the story to a couple of friends in the law profession that I know and to seek their opinion on the unfolding event. Being connected to the Lagos State Government, it was almost likely to become a big story also.

But the story even on its merit had a couple of disjointed twists and impracticable and unprofessional lapses, such that, if found it to be true, the magistrate, Mrs. Sule-Hamzat might lose her job based on her alleged actions. However, by the end of the day, information from the magistrate’s side had cast a shadow over the veracity of the story circulated by the Osijos in the morning. The magistrate’s defence revealed how a little minor accident that could have been dismissed with a simple apology and both parties go their separate ways, turned into a war of ego, pride and muscle flexing, or rather, power flexing.

A statement issued by the Lagos State Judiciary claimed that it was Mrs. Yetunde Osijo who actually hit the magistrate’s car from behind and without waiting to sort things out returned into her car and sped off. Piqued by Yetunde’s unruly attitude, the magistrate called in the RRS team who managed to track her down from the hundreds of cars on the road that Tuesday morning and gave her a hot chase from Alausa to Surulere before catching up with her.

The statement went further to state that Mrs. Osijo was brought to Area H, Police Command, Ogba and insisted on calling her husband, Dipo, who further sealed the nail on his wife’s coffin by his boastful and haughty attitude. There were allegations of name dropping, even to the level of the state Governor, pedigree flashing, that their father was a former Clerk of the House of Assembly and network capacity regarding the quality of their powerful connections in the state.

And when it became apparent that the magistrate would not be able to extract an apology from the couple even with the intervention of the Police, Mrs. Osijo was arraigned before the Chief Magistrate Court, presided over by Mr. T. A. Elias and admitted to bail on liberal terms. The statement asserted that the magistrate was not present at the court proceeding.

It is very clear that the Osijo’s were unable to meet the bail condition which included a fine of a N100,000 and Yetunde therefore had to be remanded at Kirikiri until the bail conditions could be perfected.

Thus, Mrs. Yetunde Osijo’s name was logged into the inmate register of Kirikiri Prison, even if only for one night, over a trivial minor accident that a few seconds of patience and careful driving could have avoided. Still, my sympathy goes out to the Osijos for this unexpected and obviously shocking ordeal. For them, this must have been a rude awakening to the fact that mere grandstanding  without the necessary codes for back up can no longer guarantee them access to the privileged luxuries of the high, mighty and powerful of Lagos State.

The Osijos need a new password as their name dates back to the second republic era and may have been deleted in the newly formatted systems of Lagos State. But beyond this, the couple would need a few lessons in humility, patience and responsibility. Let us assume that Mrs. Osijo decided to play up the “women thing” (God knows what that is) by refusing to “bow” to another woman, Mr. Osijo ought not to have encouraged his wife with his alleged utterances, but rather mediate between the two women.  In any case, it is most likely that Yetunde would be a junior to the magistrate both in age and hierarchy on the state organography, (I guess) a little show of respect wouldn’t hurt anyone and would have saved us all the emotional masturbation we went through, please.

The Osijo’s alleged misbehaviour reminds me of a similar experience I had with a female lawyer sometime in 2009 along Bank Anthony Way, Ikeja, right in front of Modupe Memorial Anglican Church. The lady obviously thought she had a right to the road and could change lanes without permission or approval of other road users, even if it was not safe to do so. My attempt to call her attention to her dangerous driving, earned me a killer stare down, so I decided not to budge too. It was one of the rather low cars, most likely a Honda and I had a Honda Element Jeep. Unfortunately, she lost her driver’s side mirror to the struggle. Then, all hell broke loose. She jumped down from her car and began shouting while I remained in mine. There were two Police men at the junction and a female traffic officer. I beckoned to them to come over.

They had no choice anyways as the lady was already drawing attention with her frantic gestures and we were also adding to the heavy traffic. There was no adjective in the dictionary of contemporary abuses (if there is one) that she did not call me and for no reason that I could think of except that I was wearing an iro and buba made from Ankara fabric while she had a faded pair of black slacks and some frumpy blouse revealing half of her cleavage.

She announced that I was an illiterate housewife of a money-miss-road man, who’d bought me a jeep to parade my ignorance about town with arrogance. She stated that my time was up as she was going to teach me a lesson I would not forget in a hurry and identified herself as a lawyer. Then it was my turn to speak and by the time I finished, she’d had no choice but to beat a retreat, swallowing her over bloated pride in humiliation and a further damage to her already rickety car.

However, all these do not mean that the Mrs. Hamzat has come out of this whole drama smelling like a beautiful rose. If anything, the press statement has compelled the need for further investigation into what actually took place between the drivers that Monday morning. Many unanswered questions would have been solved if our roads enjoyed the privilege of traffic monitor CCTVs. It would not just be a case of your word against mine or the bias judgement of a third party against either of them. After all, the RRS team were not at the scene of the incident but were drafted in to chase after the lady when she sped off without apologising.

Again, how much speed and distance can anyone cover on Lagos roads with the flow of traffic at that time of the day, and from Alausa, Ikeja to Stadium in Surulere? The fact that Magistrate Hamzat did not sit in judgement in her own case does not totally exonerate her in the people’s court of justice. Sometimes, the story of the voice of Jacob and hand of Essau does play out in our society, but this is a story for another day.

There is no doubt that the Osijos have learnt a lesson this week, a bitter and humiliating one at that. More so, that Yetunde Osijo is also a staff of the Lagos State Government means it is possible that this is not the end of this case.

Unfortunately, the Osijos seem to have gone underground and incommunicado. They would only speak through their lawyer whom they have also refused to provide contact for. This is rather unfortunate as there are many questions still begging for answers and the general public whom they drafted into their war deserve to know the truth. It is unfair and probably criminal to cast aspersion on another with unfounded allegations, bringing them to disrepute in the eyes of the public, like the Osijo’s appear to have done.

Just as they have now been painted as rich, spoilt, disrespectful kids by the state judiciary. Social media should not be turned into weapon of blackmail, arm-twisting and scoring cheap points for self. It is a dangerous trend that must be swiftly checked by the relevant authorities.

A similar scenario seems to be playing out in the sexual abuse allegation against Mr. Oshifala, the male teacher accused of sexually abusing a JSS 2 student of Queen’s College, Yaba, Lagos. The mother who posted the information on social media seems to have gone underground, up till the time of writing this article. All entreaties for her to meet with the various panels investigating this case have not been honoured by this faceless mother. (Read further details in tomorrow’s Sunday Vanguard). Yet, Oshifala has been taken to the guillotine! Do have a wonderful weekend!