Ejigbo market sexual assault: 2 defendants not OPC members – witness

A witness, Sulaiman Muhammadu Ibrahim, told a Lagos High Court on Tuesday that none of the 10 accused persons facing trial in connection with the

February 11, 2013 torture of three women at the Oba Morufu International Market, Ejigbo, Lagos, is a member of the Odu’a Peoples Congress (OPC).

Ibrahim, a farmer from Kebbi State, said that he had lived in Lagos for 51 years and insisted that the 8th and 9th defendants, Buhari Yusuf and Abdullahi Haruna, were not even at the scene when the alleged crime was committed on February 11, 2013.

According to him, Yusuf and Haruna were innocently arrested while they were sleeping inside a mosque.

Those standing trial for the alleged torture of the women are the market leader Isiaka Waidi, 61; Saheed Adisa, 29; Lateef Tijani, 37; Ahmed Adisa, 65; and Azeez Akinosun, 36.

Others are Jimoh Busari, 50; Buhari Yusuf, Abdullahi Harun, 20; and Oloruntoyin Dauda, 46, who is the only female among the accused persons.

They are facing a 19-count criminal charge over alleged conspiracy, attempted murder, sexual assault, malicious administration of poison, obtaining money by false pretence and deprivation of liberty.

The three women – Nike Salami, Juliana and Joke Agomo – were allegedly tortured by the accused persons for stealing pepper in the market.

They were beaten, stripped and had pepper rubbed on their bodies and in their private parts by some persons suspected to be members of the OPC while the incident was being recorded with a mobile phone.

They are also accused of obtaining N50,000 from one Fima Agomo, a relation of the women, by claiming that the money would be used to repay the traders whose pepper wares were stolen.

The video of the incident was greeted with outrage when it surfaced on the Internet after a year, leading to calls for the arrest and prosecution of the suspects.

The then Inspector-General of Police, Muhammed Abubakar, ordered the Federal Special AntiRobbery Squad to take over the investigation, which eventually led to the arrest of the accused persons.

The trial judge, Justice Oluwatoyin Ipaye, has adjourned further trial till 21 March, 2019.