The celebrated murder case of the
late former National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) Chairman, Omolafe
Aderiye, came to an end on Monday as an Ado-Ekiti High Court discharged and
acquitted all seven persons standing trial.
The defendants are Adebayo
Aderiye, Adeniyi Adedipe, Sola Durodola, Kayode Ajayi, Oso Farotimi, Sola
Adenijo and Rotimi Olanbiwonnu who are all members of the opposition All
Progressives Congress (APC).
Aderiye, an ally of Governor Ayo
Fayose, was killed at his business office in Ijigbo, Ado-Ekiti on 25th Sept.
2014 and the case commenced in November of the same year.
Trial judge, Justice Lekan
Ogunmoye, held that the prosecution failed to prove the complicity of the
accused persons in the murder of Aderiye.
According to him, the prosecution
failed to prove the count of conspiracy to kill the late Aderiye and the count
of murder against all the seven defendants.
Ogunmoye held that the case of
the prosecution was not helped by contradictory evidence led by its witnesses
which he said the court won’t believe.
For instance the judge faulted
the evidence of PW 1, Adewale Ibidapo, that one Adesokan Adedeji Israel emerged
from a Golf car and shot sporadically into the air before firing the shot that
killed the late transporter.
Ogunmoye held that, “it is
inconceivable that amidst sporadic gunshots, the witness would observe the
purported killer(s) as what would be in the mind of the witness was how to
escape from the scene hence the court won’t believe Ibidapo’s evidence.”
Another witness whose evidence
was discountenanced was PW3, Gbolahan Okeowo, who, according to the judge, gave
“mutually contradictory” evidence.
The judge ruled: “Inconsistencies
in the evidence of the prosecution
witnesses has created a doubt.
Where two or more witnesses give contradictory evidence, it will be illogical
to believe their
testimony.”
“None of the alibi raised by the
defendants was investigated by the police. The evidence of the prosecution
failed to bring down the evidence of the defendants.
“The plea of evidence succeeds
that the accused were not at the scene of the crime. The prosecution failed to
rebut the evidence of the defendants.
“The prosecution has been unable
to prove that the death of Chief Omolafe Aderiye was caused by any of the
defendants.
“There was nowhere conspiracy can
be inferred against any of the defendants. The first to seventh defendants are
hereby discharged and
acquitted.”
Defence lawyers, Adetunji Oso,
Isaac Omolade, Adeoye Aribasoye, hailed the court for the judgment.
Prosecution lawyer, Mohammed
Alaaya praised the court for looking at the evidence brought before it.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everydayAdvertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com