Oyo State High Court Sentences Five to Death for Murder of Ibadan Taxi Driver

…As Defendants also bag 20 years each for conspiraOyo State High Court sitting in Ibadan has sentenced five men to death by hanging for the 2024 killing of a taxi driver, Akeem Shittu, at Arulogun in Akinyele Local Government Area of the state.

Justice Oyeyemi Ajayi, delivering judgment on Monday, found the five defendants Segun Taiwo (36), Kehinde Ademola (46), Yahaya Adeniyi (45), Chinonso Samson (41), and Opadotun Michael (32), guilty of conspiracy and murder.

The court held that the prosecution had successfully established that the convicts jointly participated in the brutal attack that led to Shittu’s death.

Justice Ajayi ruled that the circumstances of the incident clearly supported an inference of conspiracy.

He subsequently sentenced each defendant to 20 years’ imprisonment for conspiracy and death by hanging for murder.

Earlier in the trial, State Counsel K. K. Oloso recounted how a minor road incident escalated into a fatal confrontation.

According to the prosecution, the events unfolded on April 10, 2024, at about 8:30 p.m. on Elepe, Arulogun Road in the Ojoo area of Ibadan, after Shittu’s vehicle accidentally hit a motorcycle carrying two passengers.

There, members of the motorcyclists’ group allegedly demanded ₦50,000 for medical treatment, but Shittu could only produce ₦8,000.

He was then prevented from leaving and stripped naked, Although he initially escaped, he was later pursued, cornered, and gruesomely hacked to death with a machete.

Investigators later traced Shittu’s taxi and a handkerchief to a shop owned by the wife of one of the convicts.

The prosecution noted that the offences contravened Sections 316, 319, and 324 of the Criminal Code Laws of Oyo State 2000, which prescribe severe penalties for conspiracy and homicide.