Ekiti State High Court

NIGERIA: COURT SENTENCES 4 TO DEATH OVER MURDER OF EKITI CHIEF

August 1, 2022:

An Ekiti State High Court, Ado Ekiti Division, has sentenced four men to death by hanging over the murder of a traditional chief, Punch reported on 26 July 2022.
The court also sentenced each of the four men to seven years’ imprisonment for conspiracy and life imprisonment for attempt to murder a woman.
The convicts, Sunday Aernana (30); Jonathan Elijah (19); Sule Obasanjo (30); and Moses Iorna (24), were arraigned on three counts of conspiracy, murder and attempt to murder.
The charges read in part, “The defendants on April 5, 2020, at Iyemero Ekiti, in the Ikole Local Government Area of Ekiti State, did conspire to murder Chief Sola Fatunla and also attempted to murder one Adebo Tadeni.”
The prosecutor, Julius Ajibare, said the offences contravened sections 516, 316 and 320 of the Criminal Code Cap. C16, Laws of Ekiti State of Nigeria, 2012.
The prosecutor, Ajibare, called six witnesses and tendered the defendants’ statements, photographs of the deceased burnt body, a medical report, among others, as exhibits.
The defendants, who spoke in their own defence through their counsel, called no witness.
In the court judgment, Justice Adekunle Adeleye, who said the prosecution established through evidence the intention of the four defendants to commit the murder and attempted murder, said, “This is contrary to sections 516, 316 and 320 of the Criminal Code Cap. C16, Laws of Ekiti State, 2012.”
“Each of the first, second, third and fourth defendants are hereby sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment each on count one (conspiracy), death by hanging on count two (murder) and life imprisonment on count three (attempt to murder),” the judge added.