After deadly royal battle in Ondo, they want to cover up the murder of our son, family laments

•New monarch denies allegation

By Dayo Johnson, Akure

THE family of the Youth Leader of Ilado community in Akure North local government area  of Ondo State, Tope Ojo, who was allegedly stabbed to death during a chieftaincy tussle, has ?raised  the alarm over alleged attempts to shield his suspected killers from being prosecuted.

Tope was said to have been  stabbed to death on February 3, 2017 when the Deji od Akure, Oba Aladelusi Oguntoyinbo, wanted to installed a new king, the Olu of Ilado, Chief  Ojo Owoyemi.

Oguntoyinbo’s decision to install the new Olu, it was learnt, was resisted by some youths in the community on the grounds that there was already an Olu in the community, Oba Rotimi Tominiyi.

The  Ayalodi- Gbado- Odoo family,? in a petition to Governor Rotimi Akeredolu  pleaded that government should  bring to book the  alleged  killers of their son.

Their counsel,  Atima Koboju, who signed the petition,implored the governor “to review the case and legal advice by the office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) in the state Ministry of Justice”.

According to the family, a case was instituted between the state Commissioner of Police and four persons on  the murder.

Narrating how their son was killed, the family said that the insistence of the Deji  to instal another monarch in Ilado despite the fact that an incumbent was already in place  “caused some members of the community to resist the arrival of the new king, after his coronation at the Deji’s palace, in Ilado community and this led into a  fracas eventually”.

“In the process, Tope, the Youth Leader, was stabbed with broken bottle on his head. He was taken to hospital for treatment,”the family stated.

“It was after his return from hospital that he was stabbed the second time in the chest with a sharp object after which he died. The case file was duplicated and sent to the DPP for legal advice.”

The family lamented that “the medical report (autopsy) and statements by  eyewitnesses to the murder were  ignored by the advising legal officer and the DPP”.

It added that the legal advice was treated with “light-speed,” alleging that the manner it was done was suspicious and amounted to an abuse of power and office by the officers who wrote the legal advice.

“The advising officers disappointingly did not give any reason why each accused person was advised to be let off the hook of the charge of murder in spite of the coroner’s ordinance, medical statement and statements of eye witnesses”, the family stated.

“We therefore passionately urge Your Excellency to direct the review of the legal advice in order to correct the wrong that such legal advice will occasion to the defenceless complainant in order to maintain a society ruled on the foundations of the rule of law, equity and justice.”

Meanwhile, the newly installed Olu of Ilado, Ojo, debunked the  family’s allegations.

He alleged that  it was rival, Tominiyi, who ordered his supporters to attack him and those who had come with him to Ilado.

He pointed out:”Tominiyi was wrongly installed on December 20, 2014 until the new Elemo of Akure intervened and Deji coronated  me as the rightful Olu of the community three months ago”.

The Olu alleged that the late Youth Leader mobilized people to assault him and his supporters, saying  his properties were destroyed and his wife’s money and handbag stolen in the process.

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