An Oyo State High Court in Ibadan has sentenced five men to death for the 2024 killing of a taxi driver, Akeem Shittu, marking a decisive ruling in a case that stemmed from a minor traffic dispute.
Justice Oyeyemi Ajayi, who presided over the matter on Monday, found Segun Taiwo (36), Kehinde Ademola (46), Yahaya Adeniyi (45), Chinonso Samson (41), and Opadotun Michael (32) guilty of conspiracy and murder.
While delivering judgment, the judge stated, “I am of the considered view that the court could safely infer conspiracy in the acts that led to the death of Shittu.”
The court first issued a 20-year imprisonment term to each of the defendants on the conspiracy charge before handing down the maximum punishment for murder.
On the capital offence, Justice Ajayi ruled, “On count two, each of the defendants is sentenced to death by hanging.”
Earlier, State Counsel K. K. Oloso detailed how the confrontation escalated. She recounted that on April 10, 2024, at about 8:30 p.m., along Elepe, Arulogun Road in Ojoo, Ibadan, the defendants and others still on the run descended on Shittu after he accidentally struck a motorcycle transporting two passengers.
According to her, both parties relocated to a nearby bar to resolve the matter. There, the motorcyclists’ group allegedly demanded N50,000 for medical expenses, but Shittu could only provide N8,000. He was reportedly detained, stripped, and after briefly escaping, was pursued and brutally hacked to death with a machete.
Police investigators later traced his taxi and a handkerchief to the front of a shop belonging to the wife of one of the convicted men.
The prosecution stressed that the crimes violate Sections 316, 319, and 324 of the Criminal Code Laws of Oyo State 2000, which impose stringent penalties for homicide and conspiracy.
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