BY Innocent Anaba
LAGOS—A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, yesterday, adjourned till July 28, 2001, for the arraignment of a 50-year-old farmer, Mr. Yesiru Onajobi, alleged to have impregnated his daughter.
When the matter came up, yesterday, the accused, who claimed to be an illiterate, told the court registrar that he had not been able to secure a lawyer.
The prosecuting counsel, meanwhile, told the court that a friend of the accused, who initially stood as surety for him, promised to secure a lawyer for him. He said the friend has disappeared.
According to the prosecution, the surety does not pick his calls.
The prosecution said Yesiru had been abandoned by friends and relations.
Trial judge, Justice Pat Ajoku, while adjourning the matter to enable the accused farmer secure the services of a lawyer, said if by that date he fails to secure the services of a lawyer, he will be remanded in prison custody.
Yesiru Onajobi was arraigned before the court on June 7, 2010 by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trade in Persons.
In a two-count charge filed before the court, Yesiru Onajobi of Bobije in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos State, on or January 20, 2010 in Bobije, Ibeju-Lekki, was alleged to have seduced Kehinde Onajobi, 14, his daughter, who was under his custody.
According to the charge, the offence is contrary to Section 13(1) of the Trafficking in Persons Prohibition Law Enforcement and Administration Act, 2003 as amended and punishable under the same Section of the Act.
Justice Ajoku had on June 7 adjourned the case till 27 June, 2010 to give the accused person the opportunity to secure the services of a lawyer. The judge ordered that he be remanded in the custody of the agency.
His daughter has since given birth.
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Man, 50, arraigned for impregnating 14-yr-old daughter