An Address Delivered By Prince Jide Kosoko On Behalf Of Association of Nigeria Theatre Arts Practitioners (ANTP) And The Entertainment Industry On The Continual Illegal And Unjustified Detention Of Alhaji Babatunde Omidina (Baba Suwe) By NDLEA At A Press Parley On The 20th Of October At Ltv 8, Agidingbi, Ikeja, Lagos.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to welcome you to this emergency press parley. I use the word emergency press parley because of the issue we are here to address today, which is the continual illegal and unjustified detention of one of our prominent members, Alhaji Babatunde Omidina, popularly known as Baba Suwe.

It was with a great sense of grief and sadness that we received the news of his arrest several days ago on the charges of ingesting hard drugs for the purpose of exporting it. But while we waited patiently for due process to take its course in line with internationally acceptable standards, it is surprising and quite unbelievable that after a week in the custody of NDLEA, and after excreting about three times without the purported hard drugs found, the authorities of NDLEA have refused to release him to go freely, as if the public humiliation he has been made to go through is not enough punishment for an innocent man.

The law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria deemed an accused person innocent until found guilty by a court of law; but Alhaji Babatunde Omidina, even before any string hard evidence are produced (and none have been produced till now) have been literarily tried and convicted through unethical procedures employed by NDLEA which had his photographs and stories about him all over the media (both print and electronic).

The aforementioned unethical proceedings have not only brought untold humiliation, bad press and unprecedented public outcry against Baba Suwe; it has equally brought our industry and all theatre practitioners into public odium. Everybody in the industry is now seen as a potential drug pusher. This is a tag we reject in its totality. We do not dispute the fact that there are bound to be a few bad ones in a large professional grouping but we make bold to say that we are not drug pushers but hardworking professionals, who have worked hard to earn decent living and the good name we presently enjoy.

Having said the above and with the fact that nothing incriminating has been found on Alhaji Babatunde Omidina, we are hereby demanding his immediate and unconditional release from the custody of NDLEA. There is the doubting the fact that aside the fundamental human rights; his continued detention is already breaking down his fragile health.

We are law abiding citizens of this great country, Nigeria and world acclaimed molders of public opinions; so it is wrong for NDLEA to take our silence as capitulation or stupidity. We only wanted NDLEA to follow due process but it has become obvious that NDLEA is bent on circumventing both the law and due process in unduly punishing as innocent man and bring further public odium on our most cherished industry.

We are therefore calling on His Excellency, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, President, Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, the Executive Governor of Lagos State, the Senate Committee on Human Rights, the House of Representatives Committee on Human Rights and the National Rights Commision to please step into this matter and help secure the release of Alhaji Babatunde Omidina from this illegal and unjustified detention.