Mutiu Adeniji, a tricycle rider based in Ogun State, has regained freedom after spending a year and nine months in the Kirikiri Medium Correctional Centre in Lagos.

His legal representative, Eniola Omosehin of the Headfort Foundation, told FIJ that Adeniji was arrested in March 2020 by police officers he mistook for thieves.

According to Omosehin, Adeniji was on his way to pick up his phone where he was charging it when some men grabbed him in the fashion of thieves and asked him to give them the key to the tricycle.

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“Thinking he was going to be robbed, Adeniji refused to obey and got into a fight with one of them, knocking out a tooth of the one he fought. Unknown to Adeniji, these men were police officers in mufti. He was eventually overpowered by the men and taken to the station,” said Omosehin.

“At the station, he explained that he did not know why he was accosted or that the people were police officers. He was told to bail himself out with a substantial sum, which he did not have at the time. As a result, he was charged to court for assault of a police officer.”

Omoseyin said the court granted him bail, but he could not perfect the bail and therefore remained in custody.

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On March 1, 2021, Adeniji met with one of Headfort Foundation’s lawyers stationed at the Ogba Magistrate Court, who took his brief pro bono. Omosehin said his case suffered several adjournments due to the coronavirus pandemic and the judiciary staff strike.

“On December 17, no witness was in court and the defendant was not produced. So the matter was adjourned until December 21, the day the court eventually struck it out,” she said.

Adeniji gained freedom after the court listened to his lawyer’s submission and struck out all charges against him.