The Ondo State High Court, Akure, yesterday sentenced three persons to death for killing Mrs Funke Olakunrin, the daughter of the Afenifere leader, Chief Reuben Fasoranti.
Africa Daily News, New York recalls that the deceased was murdered by the convicts along Benin-Ore-Sagamu Expressway in the Ore Odigbo Local Government Area of the state in June 2019, on her way to Lagos State.
Apart from Olakunri, the convicts were also found guilty of killing one Mathew Ogunbiyi, who they killed in the bush.
Initially, four persons – Muhammed Usman, Mazaje Lawal, Adamu Adamu and Awalu Abubakar were arrested by the men of the Nigeria Police Force and charged to court for the offence.
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Meanwhile, the apex pan-Yoruba socio-political organization, Afenifere, has commended the Nigerian judiciary for bringing the killers of a daughter of its leader, Mrs. Olufunke Olakunrin, to justice.
Olufunke, one of the daughters of Pa Reuben Fasoranti, the leader of Afenifere, was gruesomely murdered in June 2019 at Oore in Odigbo Local Government Area of Ondo State after a visit to her father in Akure, capital of the state.
Four suspects were arrested six months later and charged first to a magistrate court before the then Attorney General of the State, Mr. Kola Olawoye, got the case to be transferred to a High Court.
In a judgement delivered Friday, June 10, 2022, Mr. Justice William Olamide, sentenced three of the four suspects to death by hanging but discharged and acquitted the fourth defendant, Mr Abubakar, who was charged with aiding and abetting the crime.
Those sentenced to death were Mohammed Usman, Osagie Lawal, and Adamu Adamu.
Reacting, the National Publicity Secretary of the organization, Comrade Jare Ajayi, averred that the judgement was an indication that justice can be adroitly dispensed in Nigeria if the judiciary is allowed to function unfettered.
In a statement he signed, Ajayi commended the Nigeria Police Force for diligently investigating and prosecuting the case.
He also commended the Ondo State government and the judiciary for their diligence in handling the case.
According to Ajayi: “The diligence prosecution and final resolution of the case will go a long way in rekindling the confidence of the public in the judiciary.”
He pointed out that that Afenifere hoped that ‘this sort of diligence but effective process would be brought to bear in all other cases in such a manner that justice would be truly and promptly dispensed without regard to the status or inclinations of those involved.’
Afenifere spokesman was quick to add that the “excitement that the verdict elicited was not necessarily because the culprits are going to die per se. Rather, the excitement was in the fact that at last, those who killed are going to pay the supreme prices as well.”
‘It is clear a proof that no matter how long it takes; the day of reckoning will certainly come for evil-doers as those who operate in the dark lane never have good endings’, he said.
He expressed the hope that the authorities will prevent the acts of terrorism and murder by stepping up security in the country and allow state police to be formed by states that are desired to do so.
