Impact Stories
Wasiu is a 40-year-old man from Ibadan. He worked at a construction site and sometimes sleep at a museum close to the location where he worked. Sometimes in 2018, Wasiu and his friend saw some guys go into a Railway Site. Like typical Agberos in Lagos, they stopped them and asked to be paid before the guys could be allowed to pass through. Unknown to them, the guys went in to cut electric cables belonging to the Railway Corporation. Wasiu and others were later arrested and he was charged as an accessory after the fact to an offense of destruction of electric cables.
The guys who stole the cables pleaded guilty and were sentenced while Wasiu and two others pleaded not guilty. They were granted bail by the court. One of them was able to perfect his bail while Wasiu and the other remained in custody. Years passed by and the other person died while awaiting trial, leaving just Wasiu in custody awaiting trial.
Our lawyer- Oluyemi Orija took Wasiu's brief during a prison visitation, carried out preliminary investigation and commenced his free legal representation. She realized that since the main culprits pleaded guilty, the prosecution had not been showing up for the continuation of the trial.
This continued till June 2022 when the matter came up again with no prosecuting counsel in court. Our lawyer- Itunuoluwa Awolu alongside the counsel for the defendant on bail made an application to the court to dismiss the charges against them since the prosecution refused to show up in court for 1 year and 4 months even after hearing notice was served on them. The court went through its record and aligned with the submission of both defendants' counsel and dismissed the charges against them.
Wasiu gained freedom after 4 years in custody.
