The Lagos State government has filed an appeal at the Supreme Court challenging the recent acquittal of Dr. Olufemi Olaleye, who was found guilty of defiling his wife’s 16-year-old niece by the State High Court.
Dr Olaleye’s conviction was later overturned by the Court of Appeal on the grounds that there were material contradictions in the evidence gathered by the prosecution, which should not have been relied on by the lower court.
The Medical Director of Optimal Cancer Care Foundation was initially jailed for the rest of his life by Justice Rahman Oshodi of the Lagos State Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court on October 24, 2023.
Justice Oshodi had held in his judgment that the evidence adduced before the court against the defendant was compelling and proved beyond a reasonable doubt.
But the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division, while delivering judgment on an appeal filed by Olaleye, held that the trial court erred in convicting him based on the “tainted” and “unreliable” testimony of his estranged wife, Oluremi, and the alleged victim (name withheld).
Dissatisfied with the appellate court’s ruling, the state government has approached the Supreme Court, urging it to reaffirm the defendant’s conviction.
In response, Dr Olaleye, through his attorney, Chief J.S. Okutepa (SAN), has filed a preliminary objection against the appeal.
The Notice of Preliminary Objection, dated September 29, 2025, asked that the apex court dismiss the state’s appeal for lack of competence.
In reaction to this preliminary objection, the state government urges the Supreme Court to disregard the respondent’s arguments, citing the reasons outlined in its brief of argument dated August 18, 2025, and to permit the appeal by reinstating the trial court’s judgment.
In its comprehensive response to Dr Olaleye’s preliminary objection, the state government argued that the respondent’s application is misplaced, unfounded, and overly technical.
The state’s appeal is based on four principal grounds, each aimed at persuading the apex court to uphold Dr Olaleye’s conviction by the trial court.
In the third ground, the state government seeks to address whether the issue of the victim’s age, which was not contested or raised during the trial, can be a point of contention at the appellate level.
