- Prosecutor Admits Suspects Escaped
By Our Reporter
A clergyman based in Osogbo, capital of the State of Osun and an official of Peace Corps, Patriot Michael Mukaila Adebisi and his family members are currently living in fear of being killed owing to an alleged conspiracy between two officials of the Nigeria Police Force, Osun Command and four armed robbery suspects whom he recently arrested.
Micheal had on October 29, 2017 in a rare display of bravery rescued two persons; Temilola Isiaka and Kehinde Daodu from a suspected gang of armed robbers at Orisumbare Market Area in Osogbo and handed them over to the police.
An eye witness told OSUN DEFENDER that Michael was driving in his Toyota Highlander Jeep around the scene when he sighted the armed robbers with dangerous weapons attacking the victims around 8 pm and he was said to have engaged the suspects to save Temilola and Kehinde.
In the course of engagement with the suspected armed robbers, he was hit with dangerous weapons, severely injured and had his car damaged with some valuables stolen from him, but with the assistance of passers-by, he was able to disarm the suspects and arrested four of them who were in turn handed over to the police at Dugbe Police Station in Osogbo, while others ran away with his bag, which according to him, contained materials like N196,000, photocopies of Toyota Highlander Jeep particulars with registration number JJJ 242 EQ, photocopies of his credentials, Huwai and Techno Y2 mobile phones, an identity card, GTB ATM card of one Miss Okunoye Damilola Christiana, Peace Corps Uniform with a name tag “Adebisi”, a desert boot, passport and other photographs, National ID card, Peace Corp ID card, TIN ID card and Clerical ID card.
Out of the four suspects that were arrested, according to Michael, only two, Kazeem Oladeinde, aged 39 and Idowu Hazzan Adedapo, 31, were arraigned before an Osogbo Magistrate Court, while the other two were said to have been released with the knowledge of the Dugbe Police Station’s DPO, SP Gbemileke.
Surprised to see only two of the four suspects handed over to the police, Micheal said he made effort to use his “Camera phone to capture them, but in the process, his phone was seized by the Investigating Police Officer, one S.O Ademola who handed him over to another police officer, saying he was forced to part with N10,000 before the phone could be released to him.
He said, it was later that the Police Prosecutor in charge of the case, Sunday Ajayi told him that the other two suspects had been found to be innocent and that they had been released, a scenario which according to him started raising suspicion that the officials in charge might have compromised.
The four-count charge for which the duo of Oladeinde and Adedapo were arraigned before Magistrate Adenike Olowolagba read, “That you, Kaseem Oladeinde and Idowu Hazzan Adedapo and others now at large on the 29th October, 2017, did conspire to commit felony. That you Kaseem Oladeinde and Idowu Hazzan Adedapo did assault one Isiaka Temilola, Kehinde Daodu and Adebisi Mukaila Micheal by hitting them with an object as a result of which they sustained head injury. That you did malicious damage to one Toyota Highlander with registration number JJJ 242 GQ property of one Adebisi Mukaila Micheal by destroying the door of the said vehicle. That you did steal a bag containing the sum of N196,000 only, mobile phones, identity cards and ATM card, property of one Adebisi Mukaila”.
The suspects pleaded guilty to the charges levelled against them and the presiding Magistrate ordered that they should be remanded in Ilesa Prison custody, as she adjourned the matter till November 8, 2017.
When the matter came up on the said day, the suspects were not brought to court by Prison officials and this forced the Magistrate to adjourn till December 13 again. Still on December 13, the prison official did not show up, but the reason given by the Prosecutor, Sunday was the fuel scarcity as at the time. The magistrate subsequently adjourned the matter till January 17, 2018.
Narrating his ordeal to OSUN DEFENDER, Prophet Micheal said after the sitting of the court, he received a call that his house, located in Okinni had been set ablaze by some unknown persons, with a section of the house and the adjoining shop completely burnt, saying it was at this period that he became skeptical about the whereabouts of the other two suspects.
According to him, few days after his house was burnt, he started noticing strange movement of persons trailing him on bike wherever he goes, believing that his life was in serious danger.
To make things worse, he said that he had been accosted by a man who claimed to be a Prophet on the 29th November 2017, warning him to desist from further pursuit of the criminal case against the two accused and further warned that should he fails to heed the warning, he would lose his life and members of his family.
He said he could not report these life-threatening incidences to the police because he was afraid that the police might set trap for him.
On January 17, 2018, when the matter was to come up again, a new Magistrate had taken over the matter sequel to the transfer of Magistrate Olowolagba but the suspects were still not brought to court.
After studying the proceedings so far, the new magistrate sought to know the whereabouts of the accused persons and insisted that the accused be produced in court on the next adjourned date.
Michael said, it was after the insistence of the Magistrate that the counsel to the accused person, Barrister Okobe Najite approached him and warned him not to further pursue the matter, while the Police Prosecutor, Ajayi also came to confess to him that the accused persons had absconded from the police custody when they were being taken to the prison and have since been at large.
In spite of the atrocities committed by the conspirators, Michael noted that the Police Prosecutor has consistently collected money from him to convey the accused persons to court, while the officer and his conspirators had made several efforts to prevent a number of lawyers from further taking up the matter.
The complainant had subsequently written a petition to the office of Inspector General of Police, titled, “Complaint of Conspiracy, Aiding Escape and Perversion of Justice Against SP Gbemileke (DPO Dugbe), Sergeant Sunday Ajayi (Prosecutor) and S.O Ademola, All Officers of the Dugbe Police Station: Save Our Clients Soul”, where he accused Ajayi and counsel to the accused persons, Okobe Najite, of conspiracy to prevent the accused persons from being brought to justice. Copies of the petition were also submitted to the Commissioner of Police, Osun Command; Assistant Commissioner of Police, Zone XI; Department of Security Service; Human Right Commission; Peace Corps of Nigeria.
The petition signed by Michael’s lawyer, S.F Gimba of S.F Gimba & Co (Cornerstone Chamber) read in part: “Our client could upon the instant connect the warning by Lawyer Okobe and the Prophet as a deliberate and conscious effort to intimidate him to withdraw from the case, which by implication puts the prosecutor and the lawyer in the same team, as accessories to the offence with the sole objective of perverting justice.
“Our client is now being daily accosted by different people with threats concerning the case. Hence, our client hardly passes a day without being threatened by strangers.
“We implore you to use your good office to investigate the conduct of all the officers involved as we have reasons to believe they know the whereabouts of the accused persons trailing our client up and down”.
Meanwhile, in series of recorded telephone conversations between the complainant and the police prosecutor, a copy of which is in the custody of this medium, the latter was heard appealing to the former to forgive him and that he would take responsibility for all his stolen properties.
The prosecutor was also heard assuring the complainant that he would no longer be trailed by any unknown person, saying, “By the grace of God, I assure you that nobody would trail you again and nothing will happen to you. Please have mercy on me. I have now been left alone on this case by the other officers involved”.
When contacted by the medium for his reaction, he (prosecutor) disclosed that he was aware of the petition but he has been working with the petitioner to resolve the issue amicably.
He affirmed that the suspects had escaped from him while transferring them to Ilesa Prison and he has since then been on the trail of the run-away suspects. He added that he was not aware of the number of suspects involved in the case, as only two were presented in the court where he was prosecuting the matter.
Also, the investigating police officer, one officer Demola, while speaking with the medium said the matter had nothing to do with robbery but a mere case of two fighting and that the petitioner was not the one who effected the arrest of the suspects.
