OAU Student Murder: Broadcaster Hails Appeal Court’s Affirmation Of Death Sentence On Hotelier

Popular Ibadan-based radio broadcaster and founder of Agidigbo FM, Alhaji Oriyomi Hamzat, has expressed optimism in the ability of the judiciary to protect ordinary Nigerian.

Hamzat stated this on Thursday in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, while reacting to the ruling of the Akure Division of the Court of Appeal, which affirmed the death sentence earlier passed by an Osun State High Court on Dr Rahman Adedoyin, owner of Hilton Hotel in Ile-Ife, Osun State.

The ruling of the appellate court followed an appeal filed by the hotelier Adedoyin to set aside the death sentence of the lower court, which found him guilty in the death of a guest in his hotel, late Timothy Adegoke, who was a postgraduate student of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State.

LEADERSHIP earlier reported that the appellate court on Thursday affirmed the decision of the Osun State High Court, which earlier convicted Adedoyin and sentenced him to death.

The late Adegoke lodged at Adedoyin’s Hilton Hotels and Resorts in Ile-Ife, Osun State, upon his arrival from Abuja on November 5, 2021, to enable him to arrive early for his examination at the OAU Distance Learning Centre, Moro, on November 6 and 7, 2021.

He later went missing and was found dead buried in a shallow grave near the hotel following an investigation by the police.

“The judgement of the High Court of Osun State stands. Adedoyin’s appeal is dismissed in part. The Court of Appeal held that Adedoyin was properly convicted and sentenced to death,” the appellate court’s judgement read.

The upper court, however, ruled that the “order of forfeiture of Hilton Hotel quashed and set aside. Order of education scholarship to children of Timothy Adegoke by Adedoyin and others quashed and set aside.”

Reacting to the ruling, the broadcaster, who followed up the murder case and aired same on his human rights reality radio show, ‘Kokoro Alate’ on Agidigbo FM Ibadan, to ensure justice for the Eruwa, Oyo State-born deceased student, in a video on his Facebook page on Thursday, hailed the judgement as one assuring ordinary people of the protection of their rights in today’s Nigeria.

“We’re not celebrating the judgement directing the death of someone. What do we benefit from the death of anyone? But if we don’t get justice over some evil deeds in our society, it means those deeds will continue to progress,” he noted.

Oriyomi Hamzat stressed that the judgement was an indication that no matter the status, position or connection of an individual in Nigeria, “if you run foul of the law, you will face the law. If you don’t have any connection and you hail from a poor family, if you’re cheated in the Nigeria of today and God has mercy on you, and people stand up for you by amplifying the matter for the world and Nigerians to know, even if you can’t afford legal fees, they can help to take up your case; government itself can assist you on criminal cases because all criminal cases are prosecuted by the government.”

He added that often times, the weak in the society do withdraw and lose hope, thinking that they have no rights because they’re not connected to someone to fight for them.

“But Nigeria has surpassed that level. This is why we tell our compatriots abroad, those leaving the country and those that have completely lost faith in Nigeria, that the country could still be better. Nigeria can still get better.

“One significant proof is today’s judgement of the Appeal Court Akure over the death of Timothy which pointed at Adedoyin regardless of the long time it took to deliver judgement,” he stated.