Ayodele Olalere
Justice Hakeem Oshodi of an Ikeja High Court, on Tuesday, rejected a move by counsel to some thugs who allegedly attacked one of the leaders of All Progressives Congress, APC in Ikorodu, Oluwatosin Onamade in his office, Ijede, Ikorodu and murdered his personal assistant, to tender a statement made by one of the prosecuting witnesses before the court.
The Defendants’ counsel, Olanrewaju Ajanaku had, during trial in July 2023, sought the permission of the court to tender as exhibit a statement made by a prosecution witness, an engineer who works with the politician, for the purpose of cross examination.
However, the prosecution counsel, a Deputy Director from the office of the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP), Michael Adewoye, had objected to the request arguing that such a document cannot be admitted by the court.
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The court had fixed October 3 for ruling on the admissibility of the document.
In his ruling, Justice Oshodi chided the defendants’ counsel for abusing court processes.
“The witness had said he made statements at Ijede and Panti police stations. The statement cannot be admitted when the witness is making an oral statement in court. This statement was tendered by the prosecution and an admissible evidence is a testament of oath made in court.
The defense counsel ought to have specified which paragraph of the statement contradicts the evidence of the witness. The witness was not referred to any passage which contradicts his evidence. The court found no merit in the argument of the defence counsel and hereby rejected it,” the court ruled.
The matter was adjourned till November 20, 2023 for continuation of trial.
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The suspects namely Atunrase Sodiq Omolabi ‘M’ 28 years, Shittu Michael Olawale ‘M’ 28 years, Olaide Opeifa ‘M’ 40′ years, Olanrewaju Adebiyi aka Maja ‘M’ 35 years and Jamiu Omosanya aka Orobo, are being prosecuted by the Lagos State government and facing trial for attempted murder and murder of Ifeanyi Godfrey Etunmuse, a card carrying member of All Progressives Congress, APC, at Western Funeral Home, Ijede, Ikorodu, a company which belong to Onamade.
In April, the court was shown the video of how the suspects invaded Onamade’s office with dangerous weapons, attacked his staff and murdered the victim. They were caught on CCTV cameras.
The incident occurred on April 16 2021 during the build-up to the local government election in Lagos in which Onamade contested for the post of the chairman of Ijede Local Council Development Area.
While showing the video in the court, Onamade had identified the suspects as the ones that invaded his office.
Jamiu Omosanya a.k.a ‘Orobo’ was identified as wearing a brown polo and light brown shorts to the scene and brandished cutlass, while Atunrase Sodiq wore a cream coloured polo shirt and shorts and was seen also holding a cutlass allegedly attacking the victims and destroying property in the office.
Others allegedly seen in the video were Shittu Olawale Michael who was wearing brownish up and down cloth, Olaide Opeifa aka ‘Inspector ” who wore green shorts and short hand jersey, Olanrewaju Adebiyi aka ‘Maja’ in a white Jalabia.
The video showed the moments the suspects allegedly invaded the premises in ash-coloured RAV 4 Jeep and allegedly proceeded to unleash mayhem on the workers after which they matcheted Ifeanyi to death.
They also allegedly cut off the wrist of Oluwafemi Onamade, the younger brother to Tosin Onamade. The witness told the court that while the attack was going on, he put a call to the police but they arrived after the thugs had left. They later removed the body of Ifeanyi and deposited it at Ikorodu General Hospital mortuary.
