The Lagos State Government has requested the Supreme Court to confirm the conviction of Dr. Olufemi Olaleye. The State High Court had found him guilty of defiling his wife’s 16-year-old niece, but the Court of Appeal later found him innocent.
Dr. Olufemi Olaleye, who is the Medical Director of the Optimal Cancer Care Foundation, had initially been given a life sentence by the Lagos State Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court in October 2023.
Unhappy with the decision of the Court of Appeal, the state government brought the matter to the Supreme Court, challenging the acquittal of Dr. Olaleye on the defilement accusations.
However, Dr. Olaleye, represented by his lawyer, Chief J. Okutepa, SAN, submitted a counter-objection to the appeal.
The lawyer for the respondent, in the pre-appeal objection, asked the highest court to throw out the appeal because it lacked the proper authority.
Responding to the pre-appeal objection, the state government urged the Supreme Court to reject the respondent’s arguments, using the reasons stated in its brief of argument dated August 18, 2025, and to support the appeal by bringing back the original judgment of the trial court.
In a detailed response to Olaleye’s pre-appeal objection, the state government claimed that the respondent’s request was mistaken, lacked foundation, and was based purely on legal technicalities.
The state’s reason for the appeal is built on four main points, each showing why the Supreme Court should uphold the conviction of Olaleye that the trial court made.
In the third main point, the state government wants the highest court to decide whether the age of the victim, PW2, which was not questioned, disputed, or brought up during the original trial, can be raised as a matter of concern at the appeal stage; and whether the appealing party successfully proved the crimes of child defilement, which goes against Section 137 of the Criminal Law, CAP 17, VOL 3. Laws of Lagos State 2015, and sexual assault by penetration, which violates Section 261 of the Criminal Law, CAP 17, and Vol 3 Laws of Lagos State 2015, against the respondent beyond any reasonable doubt as the law requires, among other things.
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