6 men to die by hanging for murder

The Ekiti State High Court sitting in Ado Ekiti, the state capital, has sentenced six accused persons to death. The convicts are Olu Oniyelu, 63; Folorunso Oluwatoba, 65; Peter Ajayi, 73; Tijani Arowolo, 80, who died during the pendency of the suit in court; Dolamu Olaide, 29; John Ojo, 77, and Lateef Arowolo, 45. Pronouncing […]

The Ekiti State High Court sitting in Ado Ekiti, the state capital, has sentenced six accused persons to death.

The convicts are Olu Oniyelu, 63; Folorunso Oluwatoba, 65; Peter Ajayi, 73; Tijani Arowolo, 80, who died during the pendency of the suit in court; Dolamu Olaide, 29; John Ojo, 77, and Lateef Arowolo, 45.

Pronouncing the death penalty by hanging on the accused persons yesterday, Justice Lekan Ogunmoye, said the prosecution had successfully established a prima facie case of conspiracy, attempted murder and murder against them.

The prosecutor informed the court that the offence was committed on or about February 7, 2017 at Ilupeju Ekiti when the accused persons conspired to murder Sola Adeniyi, 27, and as well attempted to murder another commercial motorcyclist, Ojo Olaoluwa, 22, who gave evidence that the second accused person (Folorunso Oluwatoba) stopped him on that fateful day as he was about to mount his motorcycle.

The prosecutor added that Olaoluwa noticed blood drops from Oluwatoba’s bag and asked him to open the bag before he could carry him because of a police checkpoint ahead.

The accused person was said to have answered that it was a grasscutter he had in his bag and he wouldn’t open it.

The prosecutor added that when Olaoluwa sensed that what Oluwatoba had in his bag could be incriminating, he took to his heels, only to receive a gunshot from the back.

To prove his case, the prosecutor, Oluwakemi Daniel, called five witnesses and tendered exhibits that included confessional statements the accused persons made to the police, photographs of the severed body of Adeniyi, a medical report from the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, a dane gun, a locally made single barrel gun and one cartridge.