Four people, Ojo Ajayi, 22, Matthew Osalade, 23, Adebisi Ogundare, 23, and Busayo Adeniyi, 23, were sentenced to death by hanging by an Ado-Ekiti High Court on Monday for armed robbery and other offenses.
On August 24, 2020, the defendants were charged with seven counts that included conspiracy, armed robbery, attempted murder, and cultism before Justice Bamidele Omotoso.
The violations included sections 4(1) of the Secret Cults (Abolition and Prohibition) First Amendment Law, No. 6, 2017, as well as sections 516, 402(2), and 320 of the Criminal Code Cap. C16, Laws of Ekiti State, Nigeria (2012).
According to the accusation, the defendants planned to commit an armed robbery against Mary Ezeaku, Joshua Ige, and Hassan Abdulmalik on January 1, 2019, in the Odo-Ado neighborhood of Ado Ekiti.
In addition to their attempted murder of Olajide Babatunde, they were discovered to be members of the forbidden Eieye Confraternity.
Armed with knives, axes, and other deadly weapons, they robbed the victims of their possessions, including phones, necklaces, watches, and N30,500 in cash, among other things.
In testimony before the court, one of the victims, Joshua Ige, stated, “We were leaving a show in the early hours of the morning in the Ekute Quarters of Ado Ekiti. We boarded a bike to take us to Odo-Ado when we are approaching Odo Ado area, he suddenly stopped at a lonely place. Before we asked what happened, other boys emerged from their hiding places, pointed guns at us, some of them held axes and knives, and they robbed us of our phones, necklace, wristwatch and other valuables.
The matter was reported at the Police station before they were later arrested.
Albert Adeyemi, the prosecutor, used six witnesses, the defendants’ statements, two axes, two cutlasses, twelve handsets, one locally produced revolver, one live round of ammo, and more as evidence to support his case.
The defendants did not call any witnesses; instead, they spoke in their own defense through Adeyinka Opaleke, the Legal Aid Council’s Ekiti State Coordinator.
In his judgment, Justice Bamidele Omotoso said, ‘’I resolve the sole issue for determination in this case partially in favour of the prosecutor and against the defendants, they were found guilty of the offences of conspiracy, armed robbery and attempted murder’’
He declared that the penalty for armed robbery is death, and that the defendants will be sentenced by this court to be hanged by their necks till they pass away.
“May God have mercy on your souls, they were sentenced to life imprisonment for attempted murder and seven years imprisonment each for the offence of conspiracy, the judge ruled.