BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
The Police in Osun State have arraigned three young men before a Magistrate’s Court sitting in Osogbo for allegedly setting the palace of the Akinrun of Ikirun on fire and killing an indigene of the town.
The Point recalls that violence erupted on November 23, 2022 in Ikirun, headquarters of Ifelodun Local Government Area of Osun State, following alleged attempts by the new Akinrun of Ikirun, Oba Yinusa Olalekan Akadiri, to gain entrance into the palace against the will of some people in the town.
Those who were opposed to his appointment by the former administration in the state were said to have barricaded the palace with iron bars and charms placed at the entrance of the palace.
At least, five persons were said to have been shot while others, including security agents, reportedly sustained varying degrees of injuries during a violent protest by some youth of the town.
The aggrieved people were said to have vowed to resist the newly appointed king from entering the palace with all the powers within their reach.
It was observed that the majority of the people of the town, including some of the kingmakers, were against the emergence of the newly appointed king.
The Gboleru ruling house, insisting that it was its turn to produce the next Akinrun, accused the state government of imposing Akadiri as king.
Pandemonium reportedly broke out in the ancient town when some traditionalists, allegedly led by a team of the Joint Task Force, attempted to force their way into the palace to usher the new Akinrun to mount the throne.
It was gathered that the security operatives shot sporadically into the air on their arrival at the palace, but they were said to have been stiffly resisted by an army of youth thereby resulting in a fierce gun duel.
A security source at the scene of the incident confirmed that one person was shot dead while others fled with bullet injuries.
“The court refused the charge and ordered the prosecution to take the case file to the DPP. Instead of the prosecution to comply with that substituting and valid order of the court that has not been appealed against, the police brought the defendants on different charge numbers with similar offences and same defendants. It’s nothing but an abuse of court process and a naked disobedience of an order of the court”
The name of the victim was given as Lukman Omoola from the Gboleru Ruling House. A relative of the deceased, Prince Tajudeen Gboleru, claimed that Omoola was shot dead by a policeman while leading some youths to the palace to prevent the new king from entering.
In the heat of the crisis that erupted, a section of the Akinrun palace was set ablaze to resist the ascension of the new king.
It was gathered that five officials of the Osun State Fire Service were injured during the crisis while trying to extinguish the fire. The firemen were reportedly forced to abandon their vehicle at the spot while the palace was being razed by fire.
About two weeks after the incident, the police dragged three persons namely Bakare Sodiq, Adewale Tajudeen and Tunde Oladipupo to court over allegations of arson and murder.
Magistrate A. Adeyeba ordered the Police prosecutor to take the case file to the Director of Public Prosecution in the state for legal advice.
The police re-arraigned the trio before another Magistrate Court for the same offence.
However, the defence counsel, A. Ngwoke, informed the court that the police failed to comply with the order of Magistrate Adeyeba that the case file be taken for legal advice.
Ngwoke said, “My Lord, on 25th of November, 2022 at Magistrate’s Court 7, Osogbo in respect of this case and same defendants, the three defendants were brought before Magistrate Court 7, your learned brother on charge number Mo’s/685/2022 CP versus Bakare Sodiq, Adewale Tajudeen and Tunde Oladipupo.
“The court refused the charge and ordered the prosecution to take the case file to the DPP. Instead of the prosecution to comply with that substituting and valid order of the court that has not been appealed against, the police brought the defendants on different charge numbers with similar offences and same defendants. It’s nothing but an abuse of court process and a naked disobedience of an order of the court.
“The prosecutor, having chosen to disobey the order of the court, cannot approach this court again seeking for the same relief that was rejected.
We, therefore, urge your worship to dismiss this charge and order the police to comply with the earlier court order.”
Reacting, police prosecutor, ASP John Idoko, said Form 08 was brought to the court for the remand of the accused persons in prison custody and not necessarily for arraignment.
After listening to both parties, Chief Magistrate Aluko said that entertaining the charge would amount to abuse of court process since a court of coordinate jurisdiction had already ruled on it.
“The ruling of Court 7 subsists. This charge is overruled and the Commissioner of Police is ordered to comply with Court 7 order,” Aluko ruled.
