A Federal High Court in Osogbo, Osun State, ordered the remand of Olalekan Oyeyemi, a member of the Osun Park Management System, for murder at the Ile-Ife Correctional Centre.
Oyeyemi, also known as ‘Emir’ was appointed by State Governor Ademola Adeleke.
Having been appointed member of the Disciplinary Committee, Osun State Public Transportation System by Adeleke, he was arrested last September 13 and later charged with 11 counts of murder, possession of firearms and razing of a car.
Prior to been dragged before the court by the Nigeria Police Force, he was arrested by the Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the State Police Command for beating a man into coma.
Shortly after Oyeyemi was docked, and his charge was about to be read, at Thursday’s sitting, his counsel, Edmund Biriomoni, raised the issue of jurisdiction.
Biriomoni, who had challenged the jurisdiction of the court to hear the matter, as well as some of the counts listed against his client, said he had filed a preliminary objection to the murder charge pressed against Oyeyemi.
“We were served with an 11-count charge. We are challenging the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the matter. We are challenging the jurisdiction of the court to take the plea of the defendant on Counts 4 to 8, which bother on murder.
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“We filed a preliminary objection to the first charge that has murder from number 1 to 4 and the prosecutor substituted the charge, and changed the numbers we are challenging,” he said.
Reacting, the prosecutor, Umar Alli Usman, from the Force Headquarters, Abuja, asked the court to withdraw a charge previously filed before it dated October 16, 2023, and replace it with an amended charge dated January 31, 2024.
The prosecutor subsequently urged the court to take the plea of the defendant, having accepted the amended charge.
But defence counsel, after going through the amended charge, sought the relief of the court to verbally challenge counts 4 to 11 of the new charge, but the move was rejected by the court.
Usman contended that objection to the jurisdiction could only be raised after a plea of the defendant had been taken, asking the court to allow the matter to proceed.
However, in his ruling, Justice Nathaniel Ayo-Emmanuel granted the withdrawal and substitution of the charge.
Ayo-Emmanuel remanded the defendant in Ile-Ife Correctional Centre, urging Biriomoni to file a formal application for objection to the amended charge on behalf of his client.
The court subsequently adjourned the matter till March 5.
