Rountrip

The ongoing murder trial involving Hammed Tajudeen Akanbi has taken a new turn, with legal observers cautioning against what they described as the growing influence of social media narratives on the criminal justice process. While some online reports have portrayed Akanbi as a defendant who has repeatedly been denied bail by different judges of the Lagos State High Court, a review of the proceedings by his media office maintained that the substantive bail application filed before the judge handling the criminal trial has not been determined on its merits. The development has renewed debate over the distinction between an application seeking permission to have a pending bail motion heard during the court’s annual vacation and the actual hearing and determination of a bail application. “The substantive bail application filed following Akanbi’s arraignment before Justice A.T. Muyideen has, according to the sequence of proceedings, not been heard and determined on its merits,” the review s...