Families seek justice over youth leader’s murder

The Ayalodi and Gbado-Odoo families of Ilado in Akure North Local Council of Ondo State have urged the state government to put to book the killers of their son, Tope Ojo, who was stabbed to death three months ago. 

This was contained in a petition written to Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN) and made available to The Guardian at the weekend by the families’ counsel, Mr. Atima Koboju, raising an alarm over attempts to shield the killers of the deceased from the due course of the law. 

The murder case was instituted between the Commissioner for Police and Mr. Ojo Olaniyi Alonge, Mr. Omoniyi Oluwatuyi, Mr. Ademola Adesuyi, Mr. Femi Oguntuwase and Chief Owoyemi Ojo, who were accused to be syndicates in the murder. 

The families implored Akeredolu to review the case and legal advice over alleged sale of justice, reckless abuse of power and office, cruel compromise by the office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) in the state Ministry of Justice.

The late Ojo, who was the youth leader of Ilado community, was stabbed to death on February 3, 2017, when the Deji of Akure, Oba Aladelusi Oguntoyinbo, reportedly installed a new king when there was still a substantive Olu of Ilado, Chief Rotimi Tominiyi.

This caused some members of the community to resist the entrance of the new king, Ojo Owoyemi, after his coronation at the Deji’s palace to Ilado community, culminating into a serious fracas eventually. 

According to the family, “in the process, Ojo was stabbed with a broken bottle on his head. He was taken to the hospital for treatment. It was after his return from hospital that he was eventually stabbed in the chest with a sharp object after which he died. The case file was duplicated and sent to DPP for legal advice.”

But the families’ counsel lamented that the medical report (autopsy) and statements by eyewitnesses were deliberately been ignored by the advising legal officer and the DPP. 

“We therefore passionately urge the governor to direct the review of the legal advice in order to correct the wrong that such legal advice will occasion to the defenseless complainant in order to maintain a society ruled on the foundations of the rule of law, equity and justice,” they said.

However, Chief Ojo, the newly installed Olu of Ilado community, denied the allegations against him, stating that it was Tominiyi who ordered his supporters to attack him and shed blood. 

The embattled Olu, who claimed he is entitled to the throne because his mother hails from the community, narrated that he contested for the throne in 2014 but was hindered due to the subsisting litigation at the Akure High Court.