An Akure Magistrate’s Court has ordered the arrest and remand of the Ondo State Commissioner for Women Affairs, Seun Osamaye, over the alleged assault of a magistrate.
The incident was said to have occurred within the premises of the Ondo State Ministry of Women Affairs while Chief Magistrate Temitope Alphonso was on official duty.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, the police filed charges of assault against Osamaye, accusing her of verbally and physically abusing the magistrate following a court judgment she reportedly considered unfavourable.
At the court sitting on Wednesday, the commissioner was absent but represented by her lawyer, A.K. Adewusi, who told the court that his client was receiving medical treatment at a hospital in Ilara-Mokin, Ifedore Local Government Area of the state.
The defence counsel requested a 90-minute stand-down to enable him to present a medical report, which the court granted. When proceedings resumed, Adewusi submitted a hospital report claiming the commissioner was under medical care.
However, the prosecution counsel, Suleiman Adebayo, challenged the authenticity and credibility of the medical report.
In his ruling, Magistrate Damilola Sekoni rejected the document, stating that it failed to show that the commissioner was admitted in the hospital or medically unfit to appear in court.
“The report did not indicate that the commissioner was on admission in a hospital or medically unfit to attend court,” the magistrate ruled.
He also noted that the document did not state the date and time of the alleged hospital admission, describing it as inadequate and unreliable.
Citing what he described as disregard for court proceedings, Magistrate Sekoni ordered the immediate arrest and remand of the commissioner in a correctional facility.
The case was adjourned until January 12 for further hearing.
