by ‘Jola Sotubo

Two women in Lagos have been arrested and arraigned in court after reports that they had a hand in the death of their landlord’s son.

Awolere Funke and Omotayo Oyekunle along with one Christopher Nwosu are being charged with the murder of Tolulope Olajuwape.

The three accused persons were said to have been part of a mob which killed the deceased in the Mile 12 area of the state.

Punch reports:

PUNCH Metro had reported on April 21, 2014 that the deceased was lynched after he returned from Guinea Bissau where he had stayed for over 25 years and lost contact with his family members in Nigeria.

He had reportedly visited his father’s house on Fasanya Street, where he met the house in a state of disrepair. He was said to have threatened to evict some of the tenants.

A tenant mistook him for a kidnapper and raised the alarm which led to his lynching. The police prosecutor, Inspector Asu Feddy said the offence was punishable under sections 221 and 324 of the Criminal Code, Cap E17, Vol. 11, Law of Lagos State, Nigeria, 2011.

Feddy added, “We will also be applying for the remand of the three defendants in prison for the first 30 days permitted by law, pending the release of the legal advice from the Directorate of Public Prosecutions.”

The defence counsel – Spurgeon Ataene and T.D. Ajao – however, objected to the remand application. Ataene prayed the court to conduct a preliminary investigation into the matter.

The magistrate, E.O. Ogunkanmi, called the Investigating Police Officer to tell the court the outcome of police investigations.

The IPO said, “On April 10, 2014 at 3, Fasanya Street, the deceased, who had left Nigeria for the past 25 years, went to his father’s house.

“He met the defendants and threatened to evict them. They told him that they didn’t know him and they had been paying their rent to the developer. “He left them, but as he was passing through the passageway, he met one of the defendants and was trying to find out who she was.

“Because of the way he looked – he was wearing dreadlocks – she shouted, ‘E gba mi o (Somebody rescue me)’. The people on the street got him and dragged him around four different streets and beat him to death.”

Harping on the statements of the IPO, the defence counsel told the court that the defendants had nothing to do with the offence and only acted out of fright.

Ataene said, “As stated by the IPO, it was people on the street that killed him. My clients couldn’t have been part of this. They were in their homes. They ought to have been released since the police made this discovery, whereas, they have been in detention for more than a month.

“The deceased’s family has also compelled them to be part of the burial and even made them to pay heavily; they had to contribute huge sum of money. That is why they are no longer interested and are not in court.”

The defence counsel asked the court to exercise its discretion as contained in Section 264 (9) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Lagos State, Nigeria, 2011, to grant the defendants bail pending the release of the DPP’s legal advice.

The matter was adjourned till June 23, 2014.