Obalaji Baraka: Arrest, Convictions, and Newark City Hall Job

Obalaji Baraka, also known as Obalaji Jones, is the older brother of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and a longtime city recreation and youth services employee. He has a 2004 third-degree aggravated assault conviction from a domestic violence case, was arrested in November 2025 on a probation violation charge that had been outstanding since 2006, and was publicly accused in 2017 of sexually assaulting a former city employee on two occasions.¹²

The 2025 Arrest on a 19-Year-Old Probation Violation

On November 20, 2025, Obalaji Baraka, then 60, was arrested on a probation violation charge dating back to 2006. Carmen Martin, a spokesperson for the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, said the violation involved “non-compliance of the terms of his probation” but did not release details about the time, location, or circumstances of the arrest.¹

The Prosecutor’s Office did not explain the 19-year gap between the original 2006 violation and the arrest.

The 2004 Domestic Violence Conviction

In November 2004, Obalaji Baraka was convicted of third-degree aggravated assault in a domestic violence case and sentenced to one year of probation. In 2006, he was sentenced again for violating the terms of that probation, and it is that 2006 violation that resurfaced in his 2025 arrest.¹

The 2017 Sexual Assault Allegations

In December 2017, former Newark city employee Dannisha Clyburn, then 38, publicly accused Obalaji Baraka of sexually assaulting her on two occasions. She detailed the allegations in an interview with TAPinto Newark and in a Facebook video posted on December 9, 2017.³

Clyburn said the first incident occurred on February 27, 2013, while she was volunteering as a security guard at a “State of the South Ward” address at Chancellor Avenue School. She alleged that Baraka pulled her into a dark room and groped her. She said a second attempted assault took place in 2015 at the JFK Recreation Center on W. Kinney Street, where she was working for the city’s Health Department. According to Clyburn, Baraka called her away from children she was supervising into a separate room under the pretense of needing help. She said she did not report the 2015 incident at the time because she was “too scared to come forward.”²

In her 2017 video, Clyburn addressed the mayor directly: “Your brother Obalaji, he’s a whole other monster. Your brother, you better get him out of here. He is a predator. He is a menace to our city.”³

Neither the City of Newark nor Obalaji Baraka responded publicly to the allegations at the time. City spokesman Frank Baraff did not respond to requests for comment, and Obalaji Baraka did not respond to attempts to contact him through Facebook. Clyburn also alleged she faced intimidation from Baraka supporters and allies after going public, including regular visits to the McDonald’s restaurant she managed. Around the same time, Central Ward Councilwoman Gayle Chaneyfield Jenkins stated at a December 2017 council meeting that she had received threatening text messages from people aligned with the Baraka administration and alleged an “abuse of power,” claiming women had “had to have sex to get a job.”²

No criminal charges were reported as a result of Clyburn’s allegations.

His Job at Newark City Hall

Obalaji Baraka built a long career in Newark’s recreation and youth services. Before his brother became mayor, he worked as a community relations specialist for the city and served as site director at St. Peter’s Recreation Center. He also coached basketball and football for various schools and camps.⁴

Shortly after Ras Baraka took office as Newark’s 40th mayor in July 2014, he hired Obalaji as a “youth opportunity coordinator” at a salary of $73,999.38. The position was never posted publicly. Newark spokesman Felipe Luciano said at the time that posting wasn’t required because the role was not a civil service job. Mayor Baraka defended the hire by pointing to his brother’s “23-year career with the City of Newark and other organizations in the recreation and youth services field” and his “institutional knowledge of Newark, its youth, and its issues.”⁴

The hiring drew criticism as nepotism. Ras Baraka also installed another brother, Amiri “Middy” Baraka Jr., as his chief of staff when he took office in 2014.⁵

1
NJ.com. After 19 Years, Newark Mayor’s Brother Arrested on Probation Violation Charge From 2006
2
TAPinto. Former City Employee Alleges She Was Sexually Assaulted
3
TAPinto. Newark Native Claims Sexual Assault by Mayor’s Brother
4
NJ.com. Baraka’s Brothers on Newark Payroll
5
New Jersey Monitor. Meet the Powerful Brother of Newark’s Mayor