Justice Sikiru Oke of the Osun State High Court sitting in Osogbo, on Wednesday, sentenced six men to nine months’ jail terms for claiming to be members of the Ataoja-in-Council and installing one Abdullahi Oladunjoye as the Baale of Irepodun community, Osogbo.
The defendants, Akande Suleiman, Oladunjoye Abdullahi, Isiaka Balogun, Lateef Jayeola, Basiru Odomode and Adesina Oriyomi, who were arraigned for illegally installing Oladunjoye as Baale, were found guilty and sentenced without an option of fine.
The prosecution counsel, Moses Faremi, had told the court that five of the defendants, and others yet to be apprehended, on January 25, 2017, at the Irepodun Oke-Osun area, Osogbo, conspired and performed the statutory duty of the Ataoja of Osogbo and his chiefs by installing Oladunjoye as Baale.
Faremi said their conduct was likely to cause a breach of public peace, thereby committing an offence contrary to and punishable under sections 517 and 249, of the Criminal Code Law Cap. 34 Vol.11 Laws of Osun State.
The prosecutor, who called five witnesses, said Oladunjoye paraded himself as the head of Irepodun community without the consent of the Ataoja of Osogbo.
