{"id":1793,"date":"2025-11-21T13:34:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T13:34:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=1793"},"modified":"2025-11-21T13:34:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T13:34:16","slug":"baba-ijesha-not-cleared-of-sexual-assault-charges-lasg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=1793","title":{"rendered":"Baba Ijesha not cleared of sexual assault charges \u2013LASG"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Lagos State Government has dismissed circulating claims that Nollywood actor Olanrewaju James, popularly known as Baba Ijesha, was released from prison because he was cleared of sexual offences charges by the Court of Appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Lawal Pedro (SAN), issued the clarification on Sunday, describing the claims as \u201cfalse, misleading and irresponsible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Fireboy DML - iseoluwa (Official Video)\" width=\"980\" height=\"551\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jhR7EtqJ4LE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Nollywood actor, Yomi Fabiyi, had on Friday alleged on his Instagram post that Baba Ijesha regained freedom after being exonerated by the Appeal Court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fabiyi further claimed the court cleared the actor of ever sexually assaulting a minor, calling the case \u201ca charade.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pedro explained that the clarification became necessary following Fabiyi\u2019s claims that the Court of Appeal \u201ccleared\u201d the convict of ever defiling a minor and that the entire case was a \u201ccharade.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He said the public must disregard those claims, stressing that Baba Ijesha was released only because he had completed the prison term affirmed by the Court of Appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Attorney General recalled that the High Court of Lagos State convicted the actor on July 14, 2022, for sexual assault and indecent treatment of a child in an incident that occurred in 2021, sentencing him to five years and three years, respectively, to run concurrently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Baba Ijesha challenged the conviction at the Court of Appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In its judgment delivered on June 28, 2024, the appellate court set aside only the counts relating to alleged offences committed between 2013 and 2014 but upheld his conviction and sentence for the offences committed in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pedro noted that the actor\u2019s further appeal to the Supreme Court was filed as Appeal No. SC\/CR\/757\/2024\u2014was struck out on 29 May 2025 for incompetence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A subsequent application for leave to file a fresh appeal (SC.ML\/333\/2025) was also dismissed by the apex court on October 9, 2025, leaving the Court of Appeal\u2019s decision intact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMr. Olanrewaju James\u2019s release was not as a result of the Appeal Court overturning his conviction or sentence,\u201d Pedro said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHe was released solely because he had fully served the punishment affirmed by the Court of Appeal. He was not cleared of the offences of sexual assault and indecent treatment of a child,\u201d Pedro said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Attorney General warned Fabiyi and any media platform spreading the false information to desist or risk criminal prosecution for publication of false news with intent to cause fear and alarm to the public, contrary to Section 39 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He urged the public to ignore the misinformation, reaffirming that the state remains committed to upholding the rule of law and protecting child victims of sexual abuse. <a href=\"https:\/\/punchng.com\/baba-ijesha-not-cleared-of-sexual-assault-charges-lasg\/\">(Punch)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Lagos State Government has dismissed circulating claims that Nollywood actor Olanrewaju James, popularly known as Baba Ijesha, was released from prison because he was cleared of sexual offences charges by the Court of Appeal. The Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Lawal Pedro (SAN), issued the clarification on Sunday, describing the claims as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1794,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[2257,2260,175,2258,2256,2011,2259],"class_list":["post-1793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-baba-ijesha","tag-court-of-appeal","tag-lagos-state","tag-lawal-pedro","tag-olanrewaju-james","tag-sexual-assault","tag-yomi-fabiyi"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Baba Ijesha not cleared of sexual assault charges \u2013LASG - Tona Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Lagos State Government has dismissed circulating claims that Nollywood actor Olanrewaju James, popularly known as Bab\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=1793\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Baba Ijesha not cleared of sexual assault charges \u2013LASG - Tona Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Lagos State Government has dismissed circulating claims that Nollywood actor Olanrewaju James, popularly known as Bab\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=1793\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Tona Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-21T13:34:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-21T13:34:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/tona.today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Baba-Ijesha.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"420\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tona.Today\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tona.Today\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=1793#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=1793\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tona.Today\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/76420356652545dc8fd331a11f052477\"},\"headline\":\"Baba Ijesha not cleared of sexual assault charges \u2013LASG\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-21T13:34:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-21T13:34:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=1793\"},\"wordCount\":455,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=1793#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/Baba-Ijesha.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Baba Ijesha\",\"Court of Appeal\",\"Lagos State\",\"Lawal Pedro\",\"Olanrewaju James\",\"sexual assault\",\"Yomi Fabiyi\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Entertainment\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=1793#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=1793\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=1793\",\"name\":\"Baba Ijesha not cleared of sexual assault charges \u2013LASG - Tona Today\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=1793#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=1793#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/Baba-Ijesha.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-21T13:34:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-21T13:34:16+00:00\",\"description\":\"The Lagos State Government has dismissed circulating claims that Nollywood actor Olanrewaju James, popularly known as Bab\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=1793#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=1793\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=1793#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/Baba-Ijesha.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/Baba-Ijesha.jpg\",\"width\":700,\"height\":420},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=1793#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Baba Ijesha not cleared of sexual assault charges \u2013LASG\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/\",\"name\":\"Tona Today\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Tona Today\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/cropped-cropped-Your-paragraph-text-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/cropped-cropped-Your-paragraph-text-1.jpg\",\"width\":500,\"height\":117,\"caption\":\"Tona Today\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/76420356652545dc8fd331a11f052477\",\"name\":\"Tona.Today\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/caa7d2f1284ad52494d77a04b46fce0d6bf1fe423c5ef2a52e1d3c44ff2fad10?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/caa7d2f1284ad52494d77a04b46fce0d6bf1fe423c5ef2a52e1d3c44ff2fad10?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/caa7d2f1284ad52494d77a04b46fce0d6bf1fe423c5ef2a52e1d3c44ff2fad10?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Tona.Today\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?author=2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Baba Ijesha not cleared of sexual assault charges \u2013LASG - Tona Today","description":"The Lagos State Government has dismissed circulating claims that Nollywood actor Olanrewaju James, popularly known as Bab","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=1793","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Baba Ijesha not cleared of sexual assault charges \u2013LASG - Tona Today","og_description":"The Lagos State Government has dismissed circulating claims that Nollywood actor Olanrewaju James, popularly known as Bab","og_url":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=1793","og_site_name":"Tona Today","article_published_time":"2025-11-21T13:34:15+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-11-21T13:34:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":700,"height":420,"url":"https:\/\/tona.today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Baba-Ijesha.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Tona.Today","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Tona.Today","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=1793#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=1793"},"author":{"name":"Tona.Today","@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/#\/schema\/person\/76420356652545dc8fd331a11f052477"},"headline":"Baba Ijesha not cleared of sexual assault charges \u2013LASG","datePublished":"2025-11-21T13:34:15+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-21T13:34:16+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=1793"},"wordCount":455,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=1793#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/tona.today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Baba-Ijesha.jpg","keywords":["Baba Ijesha","Court of Appeal","Lagos State","Lawal Pedro","Olanrewaju James","sexual assault","Yomi Fabiyi"],"articleSection":["Entertainment"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=1793#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=1793","url":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=1793","name":"Baba Ijesha not cleared of sexual assault charges \u2013LASG - Tona Today","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=1793#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=1793#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/tona.today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Baba-Ijesha.jpg","datePublished":"2025-11-21T13:34:15+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-21T13:34:16+00:00","description":"The Lagos State Government has dismissed circulating claims that Nollywood actor Olanrewaju James, popularly known as Bab","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=1793#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=1793"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=1793#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/tona.today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Baba-Ijesha.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/tona.today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Baba-Ijesha.jpg","width":700,"height":420},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=1793#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/tona.today\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Baba Ijesha not cleared of sexual assault charges \u2013LASG"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/#website","url":"https:\/\/tona.today\/","name":"Tona Today","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/#organization","name":"Tona Today","url":"https:\/\/tona.today\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/tona.today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cropped-cropped-Your-paragraph-text-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/tona.today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cropped-cropped-Your-paragraph-text-1.jpg","width":500,"height":117,"caption":"Tona Today"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/#\/schema\/person\/76420356652545dc8fd331a11f052477","name":"Tona.Today","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/caa7d2f1284ad52494d77a04b46fce0d6bf1fe423c5ef2a52e1d3c44ff2fad10?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/caa7d2f1284ad52494d77a04b46fce0d6bf1fe423c5ef2a52e1d3c44ff2fad10?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/caa7d2f1284ad52494d77a04b46fce0d6bf1fe423c5ef2a52e1d3c44ff2fad10?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Tona.Today"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/tona.today"],"url":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?author=2"}]}},"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1793"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1793\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1795,"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1793\/revisions\/1795"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}