An Oyo State High Court in Ibadan has sentenced five men to death for their roles in the killing of a taxi driver during a confrontation in 2024.
Justice Oyeyemi Ajayi, who delivered the judgment on Monday, found Segun Taiwo (36), Kehinde Ademola (46), Yahaya Adeniyi (45), Chinonso Samson (41), and Opadotun Michael (32) guilty of conspiring to attack and murder the victim, identified as Shittu.
The judge said the court was convinced that the defendants acted together, stating that the evidence allowed the court to “safely infer conspiracy” in the events leading to Shittu’s death. Each man received a 20-year sentence for conspiracy before the court imposed the death penalty for murder.
State Counsel K. K. Oloso told the court that the incident occurred on April 10, 2024, at Elepe along Arulogun Road in the Ojoo area of Ibadan. A minor collision between Shittu’s taxi and a motorcycle carrying two passengers reportedly escalated after the parties moved to a nearby bar to discuss compensation.
Prosecutors said the defendants stopped the driver from leaving the scene and later attacked him when he tried to flee. Police investigations later recovered his taxi and personal items in a shop linked to a relative of one of the convicts.
Justice Ajayi ruled that the offences contravened Sections 316, 319, and 324 of the Criminal Code Laws of Oyo State, which address conspiracy and murder.
Across the country, courts have recently handed down similar rulings in violent crime cases. Earlier in 2024, an Osun State High Court sentenced two men — Wasiu Afolayan, 36, and Kola Adeyemi, 34 — to death for conspiracy and armed robbery under the Robbery and Firearms (Special Provisions) Act.
