Former Lawmaker Oyebamiji Jailed 16 Months For Defamation, Forgery

A Chief Magistrate Court sitting in Ogbomoso, Oyo State, on Thursday sentenced a former member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Folaranmi Oyebamiji, to one year and four months imprisonment for being found guilty of offences of conspiracy, false publication, forgery and threat to murder an Oko Town High Chief and his household, as well as conduct likely to cause breach of the peace.

The Chief Magistrate, Muideen Salami, however granted the convict a fine of N500,000 in lieu of the sentence.

In his over one hour judgment, he sentenced the convict to six months imprisonment on count of conspiracy with option of N150,000; three months for count two of false publication/defamation with fine of N150,000;  six months for the offence of forgery with option of fine of N100,000; and one month for the offence of threat to murder with a fine of N100,000. 

The sentence was house to run concurrently, the Chief Magistrate ordered.

The former lawmaker had been arraigned in 2021 by the Oyo State Police Command along with a 94-year old Oko town traditional title holder, Mathew Wojuade Ademola, and five others. 

They included Wojuade Gbemiga, Wojuade Philip, Bello Semiu Opeyemi, Eyolade Joshua Adewumi, and Adeniyi Idowu. They were charged with alleged conspiracy to murder High Chief Solomon Ojedayo in Oko Town, a suburb of Ogbomoso.

While the prosecutor, Mr M.A. Ojei, represented the Commissioner of Police in the charge marked 

MOG/190c/2021,  Dr. Olutayo Oyewale holds the watching brief for the complainant, while Prince Niran Oyekale represented the defendants.

After the prosecution had called five witnesses against the defendants, the six other defendants except Oyebamji informed the court on December 22, 2023 through  Oyewale, that they had deposed to separate affidavits in Ibadan High Court Registry in which they had settled with the complainant, High Chief Solomon Ojedayo. 

Their names were therefore struck out from the charge, leaving Oyebamji to open his defence to the charge brought against him.

At the conclusion of the trial and submission of written addresses by both Ojei and Ojekale, the court on Thursday reviewed the case and found Oyebamji guilty of all the counts. 

The convict had given an alibi during trial that at the material time he was said to have committed the offences, he was involved in an accident and was admitted at the UCH, Ibadan on 17th December, 2019 and discharged on January 18, 2020, before returning to Oko on the 27th June, 2020.

 He however said he did not disclose this information to the Police in Ibadan and Zone 11, Osogbo, because he was not asked such question.

The court discountenanced the claim of alibi, saying that he only imported such as an excuse during the trial amounting to after-thought. 

“The accused person only tendered his photograph with crutches, neck girdle, without vehicle inspection report of the accident. There was no photo of the accidented vehicle to support his defence. The alibi according to decided authorities must have been promptly and lucidly disclosed to the police during investigation. It is the considered opinion of this court that the alibi is an after-thought which cannot avail the accused person”, the court said.

The prosecution had also alleged that Oyebamji on his facebook account had “threatened the lives of Chief Solomon Ojedayo and his household by sending defamatory and threatening messages to his phone via Facebook that his life will soon be over as it cost him nothing to eliminate him and his households. He had also described High Chief Solomon Ojedayo as “Sosoliso Ojedidakuda, Olowo Igbo” on the Facebook, an act considered as defamatory.

Though he denied referring to the complainant as “Sosoliso Ojedidakuda”, claiming that he is a writer, a poet and author, who could use words figuratively, the Court held that the coincidence of the name simulation with the reference drawn, was meant to disparage the complainant, and therefore the prosecution proved its case against him. 

Having reviewed the whole four issues raised from the written addresses of the prosecution and the defence, Chief Magistrate Salami resolved that “the evidence, both oral and written, weighed against the defendant. So, the prosecution had manifestly proved its case against the defendant. The 7th accused person is therefore found guilty and is accordingly convicted”.

In his allocutus, Oyebamiji’s lawyer, Niran Ojekale, pleaded for leniency, saying that “I apply to the magnanimity of the court to temper justice with mercy. All along the proceedings, the convict had suffered greatly by having to be remanded in police custody. He is a family man whose dependants will suffer greatly if he is thrown into the Correctional Centre. He has children still schooling, and he is a political figure. I shall be praying the court to award an option of fine as there is no record of his being a convict before”.

In his final judgment, the Chief Magistrate sentenced the former parliamentarian to 16 months imprisonment with an option of N500,000. 

The convict was subsequently whisked to the Abolongo Correctional Centre in Oyo town pending when he could settle the awarded option of fine.

Kemi Olaitan in Ibadan

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