Student detained on orders of Goodluck Jonathan allegedly denied access to lawyer

TRACKING____Babatunde Olusola, an orphan and a final year student of Chemical Engineering of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Oyo State who was arrested on orders of former President Goodluck Jonathan for creating a parody Twitter account in his name, has allegedly been denied access to his lawyer.

Human rights lawyer, Tope Akinyode who made the allegation said operatives of the Nigeria Police Force Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (FCIID), Abuja, denied him access to the detained student.

Akinyode said;

“Twice, I was denied access to see Olusola last week. I was told the IPO (Investigating Police Officer) has to give his approval before I see him. There’s no law that says a lawyer must obtain an IPO’s permit before he sees his client. This disgusting trend must stop. We will challenge it.

“The last time I saw him, he told me he was sick and he had symptoms of coronavirus. The fear was actually high because a fellow inmate, a Chinese by name, Mr Wan was confirmed positive

“But apart from that, he may also have had some other underlying health issues because he told me that after he was taken from Ogbomoso to Ibadan, he slept on urine at the SARS office in Ibadan. That was part of the harsh conditions he underwent.”

The student was charged for impersonation and contravening the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc) Act of 2015. His bail was fixed at N500,000 while a civil servant of not less than level 15 is expected to stand as his surety.

It was further gathered that despite perfecting his bail conditions, the student’s surety was allegedly yet to be verified by government officials after more than one week.

Akinyode averred that it was disturbing that his client’s release was being stalled by the police for no reason.