Questions have been raised over the arraignment, conviction and sentencing of Mrs. Meye Okuntu at the Iguobazuwa Magistrate Court, Edo State, following a petition alleging that she was denied access to legal representation and did not understand the language in which the charge was read to her.
The petition, dated September 2, 2026, was written to the Chief Judge of Edo State by Comrade Vincent Abulimen, a relation of the woman, in respect of Charge No. MIGU/90C/2026.
According to the petitioner, Okuntu was arraigned on September 1, 2026, pleaded guilty and was subsequently convicted and sentenced to two months’ imprisonment without an option of fine.
The petition alleged that no lawyer was present for Okuntu when she was arraigned, despite an alleged request for legal representation.
It further alleged that the defendant did not understand English and that the charge and proceedings were not interpreted to her in Ijaw, the language she was said to understand.
The petitioner also alleged that Okuntu was improperly influenced to plead guilty and that the circumstances surrounding her plea, conviction and sentence required urgent judicial intervention.
Abulimen urged the Chief Judge to, among other things, obtain and review the record of proceedings and order an urgent administrative inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the arraignment, plea, conviction and sentencing.
One of the prayers specifically asked the Chief Judge to determine “whether the provisions of Sections 36(1) and 36(6)(b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) were duly complied with.”
The petitioner also asked that it be determined whether Section 349 of the Edo State Administration of Criminal Justice Law was complied with, particularly in relation to the alleged request for legal representation.
Another prayer called for an inquiry into the allegation that Okuntu was “induced, misled, pressured or otherwise improperly influenced by the DPO and/or IPO into pleading guilty on the representation that such plea was the only way she could secure her freedom.”
The petitioner further urged the Chief Judge to consider facilitating the woman’s release pending determination of the complaint, where lawful jurisdiction existed, noting that she was serving a short custodial sentence.
The petition stated: “Given the short custodial sentence, any delay in examining the complaint may effectively render the complaint nugatory because the sentence could substantially or completely expire before the matter receives meaningful review.”
However, the Divisional Police Officer, Iguobazuwa Police Division, DSP Ayomide Adetunji Adebayo, rejected the allegation that the police instructed Okuntu to plead guilty.
Adebayo said the police had no power to determine the outcome of a case once it had been charged to court.
He said the case involved alleged stealing and receiving of stolen property and that the police investigation established a case against Okuntu before the matter was taken to court.
According to the DPO, “me, I am not the court. Powers is to investigate a matter, write a report and charge the matter to court.”
He added that the alleged stolen cocoa was recovered and that the suspect who allegedly stole it identified Okuntu as a receiver.
The DPO also said the alleged transaction raised questions about the source and value of the cocoa purchased by Okuntu.
He said she allegedly bought the cocoa for about N9,000 when the market value was about N31,000, adding that she knew the alleged seller did not have a cocoa farm.
Adebayo said Okuntu made a statement under caution and that family members were present during the process.
On the allegation that police officers told the woman to plead guilty, he said he was hearing the allegation for the first time during the interview.
“I don’t think a police would tell somebody to plead guilty,” the DPO said, adding that allegations could be made by anybody until they were proven.
He stressed that he did not accompany the defendant to court and therefore could not speak to what happened inside the courtroom.
The Investigating Police Officer, who spoke by telephone but declined to disclose his name, also dismissed the allegation.
“That is a pure lie,” the IPO said when asked about the allegation that Okuntu was instructed to plead guilty.
He said the information was false and maintained that the woman was charged to court after the police investigation.
But Okuntu’s daughter, Kindness Okuntu, gave a different account of how the matter unfolded.
She alleged that a vigilante member arrived at their house at about 5pm with a man from the community who was said to be a cocoa farmer and who allegedly told the vigilante that he had sold cocoa to her mother in the past.
According to Kindness, her mother was subsequently taken to the Iguobazuwa police station, where she denied buying cocoa.
She alleged that the police told her mother that she would be taken to court and advised her to plead guilty.
Kindness further alleged that her mother told the police that she did not understand English and spoke only Ijaw, but was allegedly instructed to simply answer “yes” when she got to court.
She claimed that her mother’s lawyer was on the way to court but was not allowed to arrive before the proceedings commenced.
According to her, her mother informed the court that her lawyer was coming, but questions were nevertheless put to her before the lawyer arrived.
She alleged that there was also no interpreter to explain the proceedings in Ijaw.
Kindness said her mother answered “yes” to the questions put to her and was subsequently taken to prison for two months.
She added that the lawyer arrived only after the court had ordered her mother’s imprisonment.
The conflicting accounts have now raised questions about the circumstances surrounding the guilty plea and whether the defendant fully understood the proceedings before the court.
The petition asks the Chief Judge to obtain the complete court record, including the arraignment record, the plea recorded, the prosecution’s facts, the defendant’s response, the proceedings leading to the conviction, the judgment, sentencing order and any warrant of commitment.
The matter is particularly time-sensitive because of the two-month sentence and the petitioner’s contention that a delayed review could become ineffective if the sentence expires before the allegations are examined.
The allegations contained in the petition and the daughter’s account have not been independently established, while the police have expressly denied instructing Okuntu to plead guilty. The circumstances of the arraignment and the validity of the plea therefore remain matters for the appropriate judicial authorities to determine.