A wave of anger, shock, and eerie calmness swept through the ancient city of Abeokuta yesterday when the Abeokuta Division of the Ogun State High Court delivered a judgment which acquitted Hon. Abel Oluwagbemiga and six men believed to be thugs acting on his instructions in a trial for the murder of Mr. Tolulope Adebisi.

For a state that has been in the iron grips of Hon. Oluwagbemiga for many years, the trial was seen by indigenes and residents of Ogun State, and well-meaning Nigerians as the end of a man who has terrorised and oppressed members of the society for years without any repercussions.

The huge crowd that trooped out to the courthouse to witness what they believed was a defining moment in history, when the mighty Hon. Oluwagbemiga would finally be held accountable for his numerous atrocities were left disappointed.

Despite the overwhelming evidence for murder presented by the Ogun State Department of Public Prosecution against the seven accused persons, and the fact that one of the guns recovered by the police were registered in the name of Hon. Oluwagbemiga, which was also corroborated by the testimony of one of the accused persons, Ajayi Kolwole, nicknamed “ Comrade Butcher,” a thug who had worked for Hon. Oluwagbemiga for many years, the court pronounced that they were acquitted and free to go home. What began as a land dispute between Hon. Oluwagbemiga, a high-ranking member in the All Progressives Congress political party who is also a real estate developer, and Mr. Tolulope Adebisi, culminated in the death of the latter. Hon. Oluwagbemiga who is well-known for land-grabbing in the state, sued the deceased over the ownership of a piece of land which he claimed belonged to him. When Adebisi was served with court processes as a defendant in a claim for land ownership filed by Hon. Oluwagbemiga, he initially vowed to prove to the whole world that the land belonged to him and even appeared in court for a period. As the matter dragged on in court, Adebisi became worried for his safety and security. He was deeply afraid that he may be harmed or subjected to acts of violence like other individuals who challenged Hon. Oluwagbemiga in court over land ownership disputes in the past. To save his life, on the advice of his family, Adebisi went to the court and gave up ownership of the disputed land. Despite giving up ownership of the land, on the afternoon of August 4, 2024, Hon. Oluwagbemiga stormed the home of Adebisi with his thugs to teach him a lesson for the embarrassment he caused him for daring to contest ownership of the land in court. According to the testimony of eyewitnesses, on arriving at the residence of Adebisi, the thugs began shooting sporadically into the air. On the orders of Hon. Oluwagbemiga, they attacked Adebisi who was shot in the abdomen by Comrade Butcher while resisting being forced into one of the vehicles they came with. Adebisi died later that day from the gunshot wounds. The incident set the stage for the trial and questionable acquittal of Hon. Oluwagbemiga and his thugs who participated in the criminal acts that led to the death of Adebisi.
For Nigerians who believe that the judiciary can discharge its constitutional mandate of meting out appropriate sanctions and punishments to individuals proven to have committed crimes, this judgment certainly sets a bad precedent. The judgment left all those who thought the long arm of the law had finally caught up with Hon. Oluwagbemiga for all the atrocious crimes he committed in Abeokuta and other parts of Nigeria bewildered.
From the court records sighted by our correspondents, Hon. Oluwagbemiga is currently embroiled over 70 litigations most of which were filed by him to scare legitimate owners to give up their lands to him, allegedly acting in connivance with a corrupt and inept police force and a compromised judiciary. A human rights activist, Gbadebo Akanni, who spoke outside the premises of the Abeokuta High Court after the judgement was delivered, described the judgment as “another travesty of justice, a sham, an affront to justice, and perversion of the right and access to justice in favour of the wealthy, influential and powerful members of the political class in Nigeria.”
One would be compelled to agree with the frustration expressed by Gbadebo Akanni especially after x-raying the judgment delivered by the court in favour of Hon. Oluwagbemiga. Many have attributed the acquittal of Hon. Oluwagbemiga to his influence at the All Progressives Congress, the ruling political party in Nigeria, where he currently holds the position of Grassroots, Strategy, and Campaign Director, representing the South-South Geo-political Zone.