An Osun State High Court, sitting in Osogbo, has sentenced four men to death by hanging for armed robbery and murder. The convicts are Hammed Rafiu, aged 37, Rasidi Waidi, 39, Kayode Sunday, 29, and Owolabi Bashiru, 54.
They were arraigned before the court on October 23, 2019. The court charged them for murder, armed robbery, conspiracy to murder, stealing and kidnapping.
During hearing, the prosecutor had explained to the court that Victor Akinbile was murdered by the convicts after he travelled down to Ikirun, Osun State on November 26, 2018 to attend the swearing-in ceremony of former Deputy Governor of Osun State, Benedict Gboyega Alabi and former Governor Adegboyega Oyetola.
Akintayo said Akinbile who slept in his uncle’s house at Moboreje Area, Ikirun, had called his (Akinbile) wife upon arrival in the said house on November 26, 2018, to inform her of his safe arrival.
He said one of the convicts, Owolabi Bashiru, a security guard opposite the house informed Hammed Rafiu, Rashidi Waidi and Kayode Sunday that Akinbile had arrived from Lagos and lodged in a house directly opposite his duty post at Basorun House Moboreje Area, Ikirun.
According to him, the convicts, who were reportedly armed with offensive weapons such as guns and cutlasses jumped the fence into the house owned by Alabi, and forcefully entered the room where Akinbile was sleeping through the window.
He said they demanded the sum of N10m from Victor who told them he didn’t have up to that amount, disclosing that he had N5 million in his bank account. The victim was said to have transferred a sum of N3m to Hammed Rafiu’s bank account in United Bank for Africa (UBA), who collected hundred of thousands of Naira cash from the victim, having threatened to kill him.
After collecting over N3m cash from him, the court was told that the convicts later kidnapped Akinbile and put him inside his Toyota Camry car boot and drove him to Dominion Camp, area old Iragbiji Road along Ikirun/Osogbo road and set him and the car on fire, an incident the prosecutor said caused the death of Akinbile.
