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Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
Oyo State High Court, sitting in Ibadan, has discharged and acquitted the former Chief Whip of Oyo State House of Assembly, Mr. Olafisoye Akinmoyede, who represented Lagelu state constituency in the eighth assembly over the murder of Mr. Temitope Olatoye. Mr. Olatoye was murdered on Saturday March 9, 2019, the day governorship and House of Assembly elections were held in the state. Until his death, Olatoye, fondly called ‘Sugar’ represented Lagelu/Akinyele federal constituency in the House of Representatives in the eighth assembly. He was the Chairman, House Committee on Urban Development and Regional Planning.
Olatoye was shot in the head; the bullets hit his left eye, left upper jaw and forehead. Daily Sun learnt that he ran into an ambush laid for him by his attackers when he was returning from his village, Alape in Lagelu Local Government Area, where he had gone to vote. Olatoye was in the Oyo State House of Assembly from 2011 to 2015, and was also elected into the House of Representatives in 2015.
The police had investigated the gruesome murder and later arrested Akinmoyede, and three others that they also took to the court in a case with I/70c/2019. The three other vindicated suspects are Rafiu Adebayo, Rasheed Oladele, and Kazeem Ayinde.
The prosecuting counsel, Mr. M.A. Ojeah, who handled the case on behalf of the Commissioner of Police in Oyo State, had leveled a two count charge of conspiracy and murder of Olatoye against Akinmoyede and the three others. They all pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Delivering the judgment yesterday, Justice Ademola Adegbola, discharged and acquitted the accused. Justice Adegbola , said that the prosecution did not prove its’ case beyond reasonable doubt that Akinmoyede, and the three others were the ones that shot Olatoye with firearm that eventually led to his death.
