Popular Yoruba comic actor, Babatunde Omidina, aka Baba Suwe, has alleged that his detention by the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on suspicion of being in possession of hard drugs worsened his health condition.
The actor, who is diabetic, made the claim in an interview with Sunday Punch.
Recall that the NDLEA detained Baba Suwe for a month in 2011, before a Lagos High Court awarded N25 million compensation to him over the incident.
Baba Suwe, who was rumoured to be critically ill last year, disclosed the nature of the illness, saying, “I am diabetic . As a result of that , my blood sugar level usually fluctuates but things are normal now. There was a time when I could not even talk . Very soon though, everybody will see me in another dimension in a movie .”
Asked if his detention by NDLEA contributed to the illness, the veteran actor said, “Yes , it did . I believe I was framed up in that particular case . That wasn ’t my first time of travelling out of the country and I had never been arrested for something like that . They took me to a lot of big hospitals and laboratories but nothing was found in me . The judge who handled the case later told the NDLEA that if they did not retrieve any illegal substance from me , they should let me go.
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“On the day I was arraigned in court, the crowd that came to witness it was so massive ; you would have thought they came to see a movie . At a point , I couldn ’t bear it anymore and I shed tears . I was made to sleep on a bench in an office at the airport throughout the time I was in NDLEA ’s custody . I usually ate three times in a day and I excreted more than 30 times while I was there ; yet they couldn ’t find anything . I was even taken to a place where they flushed my insides with water and they still came up with nothing .”
However, he said he had not received from the NDLEA the N25 compensation awarded to him by the court.
Baba Suwe said, “I have never got a kobo from them . The case has practically been forgotten after my lawyer , Bamidele Aturu , died .
“Aturu was determined to see the case to a conclusion . When he first took on the case , he called me aside and asked me to confess to him if I really committed the crime . But I affirmed my innocence to him and he believed me . The people close to me knew that I was innocent . I had never seen cocaine until I got to NDLEA office .
“My job as an actor was enough to take care of all my needs , and I didn ’t need anything else . Through my job as an actor, I have been blessed by God and I am well loved and respected .”