Court Remands Suspected Killers of Oyo Lawmaker Gideon Aremu

An Iyaganku Chief Magistrates’ Court, Ibadan, on Tuesday ordered the remand of four men for allegedly robbing and shooting to death, Gideon Aremu, a member of Oyo State House of Assembly.

The defendants: Ayobami Adedeji, 23, Sodiq Adedeji, 20, Kareem Isiaka, 43, and Adeniran Oladapo,31, were charged with murder and robbery.

The defendants did not take any plea, while the Chief Magistrate, Taiwo Oladiran, ordered their remand at Agodi Prisons, as the court lacked the jurisdiction to hear the case.

He adjourned the case till September 9 for mention, pending the outcome of the legal advice from the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

The prosecutor, Cpl. James Oriola, had told the court that the four accused persons conspired with others, now at large to commit the acts of armed robbery and murder.

Oriola alleged that the crimes were committed on July 1 at about 9:16PM at Alakia area, Ibadan.

He said that three of the accused- Adedeji, his brother, Sodiq, and Isiaka, armed with gun, robbed the late Aremu of his Samsung Galaxy Pam cell phone, valued at N220, 000 and killed him thereafter.

“The trio unlawfully caused the death of one Hon. Gideon Aremu, 41, a member of the Oyo State House of Assembly, by shooting him with a gun,” Oriola said.

He added that the fourth accused, Oladapo, allegedly received the said stolen phone from Isiaka on July 2 at about 12PM at Beere, Ibadan.

Oriola alleged that Oladapo was in the know that the cell phone must have been obtained through an act of robbery.

He said that the offences contravened Section 316 and punishable under Sections 319 and 324 of the Criminal Code, Cap 38, Vol.II, Laws of Oyo State, 2000.

Oriola also said that the offences are punishable under Section (1) (2) (a); Sections 5 and 6 of the Robbery and Firearms (Special Provision) Act Cap RII Vol.14, Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2004.

When the police paraded them a couple of days ago, Ayobami Adedeji said that a member of their gang, Abbey had pulled the trigger because the lawmaker recognised him.

“We left a popular drinking joint at Beere, where we smoked Indian Hemp to our satisfaction. We did not have the lawmaker in mind when we took off from Beere. It was when we were looking for who to rob that we saw him in his car.

We stopped him as he was about entering his premises and robbed him of his phone and money. We had only one gun. Although I was the one that collected the items, I did not know how much money we took from him. I was given only N40,000.

Then Abbey just pointed the gun at him and shot him many times. I didn’t know why he killed him. Later I discovered that Abbey lives at Adegbayi too. His mother has a house there. Abbey said he knew the lawmaker. It was Abbey that brought the deal to us,” Ayobami had said.

Photo Credit: Dare Fasube/Vanguard