Metro
Why I Was Sentenced To Death – Osun ‘boy’ convicted of fowl theft

Segun Olowookere, sentenced to death in Osun State for allegedly stealing fowls as a teenager, has shared his account of the events that led to his conviction.
Arrested in November 2010 at the age of 17 alongside Sunday Morakinyo, Olowookere was accused of robbing a policeman, Tope Balogun, of two fowls and eggs in Oyan, Odo-Otin Local Government Area.
The pair was arraigned on January 30, 2013, before Justice Jide Falola of the Osun State High Court in Ikirun.
The charges included robbery, conspiracy, and theft. Prosecutors alleged that they had also conspired to rob Oguntade Faramade of items worth N20,000, stolen two mobile phones from Balogun Taye, and attempted to rob Alhaja Umani Oyewo in her home. They were further accused of using weapons, including a cutlass and a Dane gun, to rob Elizabeth Dare of vegetable oil.
Despite his pleas of innocence, his ordeal worsened due to his family’s inability to raise the N30,000 bail demanded by the police.
While both men pleaded not guilty, the prosecution presented six witnesses, including alleged victims and police officers, who testified against them.
A confessional statement purportedly made by Olowookere to the police was pivotal to the case, though he denied ever writing it.
His lawyer, Ayo Omolesho, argued that the case lacked sufficient evidence, emphasizing that Olowookere was not apprehended at the crime scene.
Despite this, the court convicted them, sentencing them on December 17, 2014, to death for conspiracy, life imprisonment for robbery, and three years for theft. Olowookere was 21 at the time.
In a recent interview, Olowookere described his journey to incarceration, alleging police misconduct and coercion.
He recounted that in April 2010, while discussing his university admission plans with his father at their shop, police officers stormed the area and arrested him after an initial attempt to detain his father.
He said, “I was at my father’s shop in Oyan after returning from school. My dad and I were discussing my university admission and suddenly, we heard gunshots, and everybody ran away except my dad and a few others.
“My father was taken to a police van where there were some children. I was peeping out and could hear and see what was going on. The police asked my dad where I was and he asked them what my offence was. When they couldn’t give him a satisfactory response, my father shouted at the top of his voice that I should run away because the police wanted to arrest me.
“But I was wondering what my offence was. So, I came out and went to meet them. I was detained at the police post in Oyan, and was taken to Okuku Divisional Police Headquarters the following day. I met the children who were in the police van when they came for me sitting on the ground and eating rice.”
Olowookere claimed he was tortured into submission and falsely accused by minors who were also arrested but later released.
He said, “The DPO told me that one of the children confessed to stealing two broilers and some crates of eggs. I met the broilers and the eggs at the station. The children were eight in number. He told me the children said I was their gang leader, which I denied.
“The children he was talking about were around 12 and 13 years old, while I was 17 then. I told him I knew the children but I didn’t have anything to do with them other than greeting them in the community.”
He denied knowing Morakinyo or participating in any criminal activities.
“I met Sunday Morakinyo at the station and he told the police that he didn’t know me, nor had anything to do with me. I don’t even know where he was arrested. All the children were released but Morakinyo and I were not.
“We were seriously tortured from the first day I got to the Okuku Police Station under the supervision of the DPO. The children who allegedly committed the crime were not beaten. He repeatedly asked me to admit and confess to a crime I didn’t commit.
“After some days, we were given cutlasses to cut the grass at the police station premises despite having injuries on every part of our body as a result of the torture.”
He also refuted reports suggesting he had written a confessional statement or lived in a luxury apartment, asserting that he lived with his parents at the time of his arrest.
“I never wrote any statement to the police. My parents never had a flat, not to mention a six-bedroom flat. I lived with my parents until I was arrested,” he stated.
Asked why his lawyer didn’t object to the statement during the trial, Olowookere said, “I didn’t know anything, but I am sure I didn’t write any statement.”
Reacting to Olowookere’s case, Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke has directed the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Oluwole Jimi-Bada, to investigate the matter and explore options for a pardon. In a statement on his official X (formerly Twitter) account, Adeleke assured the public of his commitment to justice and equity.
“I have instructed a thorough review and expedited action on granting prerogative mercy to the young man. Osun is a land of fairness and justice, and we will ensure that every citizen’s rights are protected,” Adeleke said.
The case has sparked widespread concern, with many calling for a review of the judicial process that led to Olowookere’s conviction and sentencing.
Metro
Police uncover ‘yahoo’ training school in Lagos, arrest suspects

The Lagos State Police Command has uncovered a building in the Iju area of Lagos State, used for internet fraud training.
Popularly called “Yahoo School’, the command said four Yahoo experts who had been running the school were arrested alongside six trainees who were undergoing training in cybercrime and fraud during the operation.
Nine of the suspects were between ages 20 and 26, while the tenth, a trainee, is 12 years old.
Consequently, the command has directed owner of the facility to turn himself in for investigation.
Preliminary investigations according to the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Benjamin Hudenyin, revealed that the principal suspects of the facility recruited their trainees from Anambra State and engaged them to commit internet fraud and other related crimes.
He said the proceeds from their fraudulent activities were confiscated by the principal suspects.
Hudenyin said: “All suspects have been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID Yaba, for further discreet investigation and prosecution.
“Efforts are ongoing to apprehend the sponsors who financed the trainees’ enrollment in the school as well as the owner of the facility where these criminal and illegal activities took place. The owner of the facility is hereby warned in his own interest to turn himself in immediately, at the SCID Panti from wherever he is hiding.The Lagos State Police Command will ensure that all suspects are charged to court for prosecution upon the conclusion of the investigation into the case”
He noted that ” In line with due process of the law, the underage suspect among them, Minachi Ugochukwu, 12 years old, with healing marks of injuries on his body allegedly inflicted on him by the main principal suspect to compel him into the commission of the criminal acts, is being given medical attention and kept in protective custody till his relatives are identified and reunited with him”
He therefore advised parents and guardians to monitor the activities of their children and wards , with a view to preventing them from being ” exploited, lured, or compelled into criminal activities”.
Furthermore, Hudenyin called on members of the public who had fallen victim to the fraudulent activities of the syndicate to visit the SCID, Yaba, with their complaints.
“The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, CP Olohundare Jimoh, also commends the police personnel involved in this operation for their dedication and professionalism that resulted in this success.
“CP Jimoh assures all Lagosians that the Command remains resolute and committed to combating all forms of crimes and criminalities, including cybercrime tagged “yahoo”.He urges residents to report every suspicious activity or incident to the Police in their localities for prompt police action.
Metro
Mortuary Attendants Arrested Over Dead Man’s Missing Genitals

There was pandemonium resulting from a sad discovery by relations of a deceased young man in Abia state, that his testicles were missing in a mortuary his remains were kept.
The situation led to the destruction of the mortuary and near lynching of it’s workers in Umuezibe, Obingwa area, along the Aba/Ikot Ekpene highway, where it is located.
The deceased, whose name was simple given as Chimaobi, in his twenties, was allegedly electrocuted while fiddling with high tension electricity cables in Abayi Okorator, in the same area with his corpse kept in the mortuary, pending burial.
However, things got awry, when youths from his (the deceased) community went to retrieve his corpse only to discover that his genitals were missing from the body they were being shown by the attendants who thereafter, tried to escape but got apprehended.
The situation got so tensed that relations of dead person’s whose bodies were deposited in the mortuary quickly came to remove them either for immediate burial or to other locations, as the youths insisted on destroying the facility.
Eyewitness account told our correspondent that a quick intervention of the police in Eastern Ngwa, saved the mortuary attendants who were said to have been taken into custody.
A senior police source in the area, said the situation was under control, though he didn’t speak further on the issue.
Metro
School teacher arrested for sexually molesting 7 year-old pupil in Osun

Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Osun State Command has apprehended a male school teacher, identified as Ahmadan Rufai Akorede, for allegedly molesting a seven-year-old female pupil in Ilesa.
Corps Public Relations Officer, Kehinde Adeleke, in a statement, revealed that the 22-year-old teacher abused the pupil sexually by thrusting his manhood into her mouth many times.
The State Commandant of the Corps, Igbalawole Sotiyo, said a discreet investigation revealed that the school teacher started molesting the girl sometime last year, 2024.
According to his confessional statement, when it was closing time, he asked the victim to close all windows in a classroom and thrust his manhood into her mouth.
The suspect reportedly confessed further that the second incident happened on March 20, 2025, after school hours. It was only the teacher and the girl that were in the class and he pressed her buttocks.
Meanwhile, Adeleke said the suspect was arraigned by NSCDC on Wednesday 26th March, 2025 before the Magistrate Court in Ilesha where he pleaded not guilty to the one count charge and was subsequently remanded at the correctional service in Ilesa.
The matter was adjourned for trial.
Commandant Sotiyo expressed displeasure that despite the government’s commitment to the severe maximum punishment for those involved in child molestation and rape cases, some individuals would continue to involve in such acts.
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