BY CHINYERE ABIAZIEM

LAGOS — Two men  suspected to have caused the death of one Saheed Adio have been arraigned in an Ebute Metta court.

They were said to have beaten the deceased to death after giving him a hot chase to collect their share of N20,000 given to them by Ifelodun local council chairman at a party within the council area.

In the words of the prosecutor, Inspector Nwosu George, the accused, Wasiu Raji and Akeem Adebari, committed” a criminal offence that requires a capital punishment.”

The tragic occurence took place on March 22, 2014, about 7pm at Seven-Up bus stop area in Ajegunle.

Though the prosecutor urged the court to remand them in prison custody, their counsel, Mr Akinyemi Idris and Mr Spurgeon Ataene, opposed the request and enjoined the court to examine reason for the police’s request to remand them, premising it on the provision enshrined in section 264 (1, 5 and 9).

After listening to both parties, the magistrate, Mr Olatunbosun Abolarinwa, condemned the council chairman’s act and labelled it “societal menace.”
He said: “Why is he giving money to people who are supposed to be in school studying? It is wrong and is killing our society. If he had not done that, the man would still be alive. We need to educate our council chairman.”

In his ruling, he said: “Having heard from the IPO, the court believes that the defendants and others at large did not kill the deceased, he accidentately met his death while they were dragging to collect the money given to them by the council chairman.

“After preliminary enquiries, the court is of the view that the cause of his death is accidental not intentional, hence be regarded as manslaughter not murder.

The provisions of section 264 (4) of the criminal justice law gives the honourable court empowerment to admit each defendant to a bail of N500,000 with two surties each in like sum, one of which must be an elder or leader of high integrity.”