BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
The Osun State Police Command has arrested and arraigned 16 residents of the state, including a grandmother and three teenagers, for allegedly gathering unlawfully, displaying cannabis sativa popularly known as Indian hemp, and smoking it in a public place.
The arrested persons were said to have gathered under the Olaiya Flyover which is currently under construction in Osogbo, displaying and smoking Indian hemp, and threatening to injure passersby in the area when arrested.
They were identified as Folashade Ambali, 58-year-old grandmother; Taofeek Babatunde, aged 18; Ezekiel Adeyemi, 19; Adediran Abdulrahaman, 18; Samson Tola, 51; Shewu Usman, 26; Yakubu Saliu, Gbenga Rasaki, 30; Awokoya Ayuba, 22; Ayodeji Muyiro, 26; Olamilekan Oyinlola, 28; Jamiu Abdulazeez, 65; Ariyibi Oluwaseun, 42; Adris Adeniyi, 34; Oladipupo Yusuf, 23; and Adebisi Omotosho, 40.
When docked before a Magistrate in Osogbo, the police prosecutor, Inspector Adeoye Kayode, said the defendants and others at large, on November 15, around 7pm under the bridge at Olaiya area, Osogbo, conspired and displayed for sale and also smoked cannabis sativa, known as Indian hemp, which they knew was not fit for human consumption.
“The old woman, who allegedly sells cannabis, was accused of allowing an ‘unlawful meeting’ at her place
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He said that the defendants assembled unlawfully, possessed Indian hemp, and causes fear to passersby.
Kayode added that the defendants armed themselves with dagger and cutlasses in the public, and “caused terror to the people passing the exit area and threatened to injure them.”
The old woman, who allegedly sells cannabis, was accused of allowing an ‘unlawful meeting’ at her place.
The police also accused Samson Tola of conducting himself in a manner to cause breach of peace around 7am, on November 16, by refusing to give statement to the police at Dugbe Police Station, Osogbo, on the alleged case of conspiracy, unlawfully assembly, and threatening violence when other alleged suspects volunteered their statements.
The defendants were said to have committed offences contrary to sections 516, 430, 60, 86, 64, 249(D) and punishable under Section 70 of the Criminal Code, Cap 34 Volume II Laws of Osun State, 2002.
They, however, pleaded not guilty to the eight counts slammed against them.
Their counsel, T. B. Ayodele, urged the court to grant them bail, explaining that the defendants were artisans who were rounded-up during police raid.
Magistrate A. O. Odeleye granted the defendants bail in the sum of N100, 000 with one surety each in like sum, and ruled that the sureties must be blood relatives of the defendants with proof of tax payment.
The matter was adjourned till December 17 for hearing.
