The arrest and detention without trial of Mr. Omidina, popularly known as Baba Suwe by Nigeria's NDLEA early in October 2011 is to say the least mind-boggling. Baba Suwe was suspected to have ingested substance believed to be HARD DRUG and was consequently detained at the Muritala Muhammed Airport, Lagos pending when he would excrete the supposed hard drug. Baba Suwe has insisted that he did not ingest hard drug and has gone to court to seek, first, his freedom, then justice against his fundamental rights. In the midst of this, NDLEA went to court to obtain permission to detain him for another 15 days.
Local and International Media, most especially BBC and CNN carried the news of Baba Suwe's arrest as breaking news, which puts the matter on the international spotlights. Up till the time of writing this piece, it is not clear if Baba Suwe has excreted any substance, which casts so much doubt on NDLEA's claim and puts the country up for recrimination.
How are we sure that NDLEA's scanning machine, which i have had the unpleasant pleasure of been on, really functioning? If functioning and it actually and correctly discovered Baba Suwe's stomach to be harboring substance believed to be drug; then why has he not excreted it, even after medical intervention to get him to do so? A number of people have also raised the absurd point of a possible Drug Baron 'remote-controlling' of Baba Suwe's stomach from somewhere and preventing him from excreting the stuff. No matter how stupid this may sound, we live in a country where Yar' Adua, a serving president, enlisted the services of witch-doctors to cure kidney diseases. Remember also that late Abacha did similar thing before he passed on. In the same garb, OBJ suggested the use of 'juju' in fighting apartheid!
Alternative argeument could be that peradventure a Baron had paid someone to help Baba Suwe out and that the NDLEA is no chasing shadows. Almost all these issues are possible, especially in a society as corruption ridden as Nigeria.
Whatever may have happened, I think Baba Suwe's arrest and detention is a big call on Nigeria's judicial system. How long will Baba Suwe stay behind bars on suspicion of drug trafficking? What does the law say? The common thing people from my side of the law knows is that suspects can only be detained for 24 hours. From the look of things, this may have been a lawman view of the laws, as the court granted NDLEA 15 more days to keep Baba Suwe. What if, after 15 days, Baba Suwe still would not excrete drug? How would have the NDLEA cope with the scandal? What would become of NDLEA?
A number of questions could be asked on this matter, especially why NDLEA is still holding on to Baba Suwe. Did NDLEA receive any tip that Baba Suwe was traveling with drug? As it appears that his arrest was premeditated.
Local and International Media, most especially BBC and CNN carried the news of Baba Suwe's arrest as breaking news, which puts the matter on the international spotlights. Up till the time of writing this piece, it is not clear if Baba Suwe has excreted any substance, which casts so much doubt on NDLEA's claim and puts the country up for recrimination.
How are we sure that NDLEA's scanning machine, which i have had the unpleasant pleasure of been on, really functioning? If functioning and it actually and correctly discovered Baba Suwe's stomach to be harboring substance believed to be drug; then why has he not excreted it, even after medical intervention to get him to do so? A number of people have also raised the absurd point of a possible Drug Baron 'remote-controlling' of Baba Suwe's stomach from somewhere and preventing him from excreting the stuff. No matter how stupid this may sound, we live in a country where Yar' Adua, a serving president, enlisted the services of witch-doctors to cure kidney diseases. Remember also that late Abacha did similar thing before he passed on. In the same garb, OBJ suggested the use of 'juju' in fighting apartheid!
Alternative argeument could be that peradventure a Baron had paid someone to help Baba Suwe out and that the NDLEA is no chasing shadows. Almost all these issues are possible, especially in a society as corruption ridden as Nigeria.
Whatever may have happened, I think Baba Suwe's arrest and detention is a big call on Nigeria's judicial system. How long will Baba Suwe stay behind bars on suspicion of drug trafficking? What does the law say? The common thing people from my side of the law knows is that suspects can only be detained for 24 hours. From the look of things, this may have been a lawman view of the laws, as the court granted NDLEA 15 more days to keep Baba Suwe. What if, after 15 days, Baba Suwe still would not excrete drug? How would have the NDLEA cope with the scandal? What would become of NDLEA?
A number of questions could be asked on this matter, especially why NDLEA is still holding on to Baba Suwe. Did NDLEA receive any tip that Baba Suwe was traveling with drug? As it appears that his arrest was premeditated.
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