On Thursday, an Ikeja Special Offences Court convicted embattled Nollywood actor, Olanrewaju James also known as Baba Ijesha, for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old minor. He was sentenced to 16 years imprisonment.
Months ago, the embattled actor was nabbed by the police after he was reported to have defiled a minor who is the foster daughter of popular Nigerian comedienne, Princess.
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Shortly after the news broke of the disgraced actor’s deed, ace Nollywood actress, Iyabo Ojo threw her weight behind, Princess, demanding justice.
However, reacting to the verdict laid down on the convicted actor in a two-hour judgment presided by Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo, Baba Ijesha’s colleague in the Yoruba-speaking sector of the Nigerian movie industry, Iyabo Ojo, has said that his judgement is a victory for children who have been abused.
Ojo wrote, “We give God all the glory…. This victory is for all the girl child & boy child being abused….. Never be AFRAID to Speak up & Speak out.”(sic)
The prolific actress aired her views in the comment section of a post made by Princess, the foster mother of the victim.
In a post via her Instagram account, Princess dressed in a white flowing religious gown was filmed on a street with a worship background song. The comedian captioned the post, “God is not man.”
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Meanwhile, shortly after the court judgement, Yomi Fabiyi, another colleague of the embattled thespian noted that Baba Ijesha is entitled to an appeal.
Yomi said; “My name is Yomi Fabiyi and like I always tell people, a fair trial, fair hearing is part of human rights and in this case, we can understand that the Lagos state government allowed that the victim, the defendant and the public have their rights protected, the defendant argues that he is not guilty and we need to understand the fact that if he is not guilty then he has the right of appealing, it is still within his statutory right, so the fact that on some charges he was guilty and some he is not guilty, that is what we are calling a proper democratic society.
“So, we should allow the defendant to exercise his fundamental human rights which are going to appeal if necessary to challenge the ruling of this court. There is no point in denying a colleague, others can choose to deny him but I will not and what I am fighting for is the rights of everybody involved, the victim, the defendant and the public.”
During the trial of Baba Ijesha, six prosecution witnesses testified against the actor and among all six charges laid against him, he was found guilty of four.
