Court Frees Omisore
From Iyabo Sotunde, Ibadan
FORMER Osun State Deputy Governor, Chief Iyiola Omisore, has regained his freedom.
An Ibadan High Court yesterday ruled that he was innocent in the murder of former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Chief Bola Ige on December 23, 2001 at his Bodija residence, Ibadan in Oyo State.
Justice Akin Sanda's judgement was greeted with wild jubilation as his supporters turned the court room to a dance theatre.
It was the eruption of shouts of "Praise God" and the popular Christian chorus of "Winner ooo, ooo, ooo, winner," that jolted Omisore, who was thrown into a 'trance' by the judgement.
Omisore now a senator, was arraigned before the court on a two-count charge of conspiracy and murder of Ige.
Justice Sanda in a three hours, ten minutes judgement, said he was dismissing the suit because of a myriad of "contradictions and inconsistencies in the case of the prosecution and on the totality of the evidence, which is insufficient and cannot be sustained.
The accused is hereby discharged and acquitted."
He also accused the police of doing a shoddy investigation by concentrating their probe on one angle and neglecting the others that could have provided more evidence on the trial.
Throughout the period, Sanda read his judgement, Omisore sweated profusely despite the functioning fans in the courtroom.
Often he would remove his glasses, wipe his face with a white handkerchief before putting it on. It was obvious that he was not at ease.
Although Justice Sanda noted that conspiracy might not be proved by direct evidence, he however, held that for a circumstantial evidence to support a conviction, it must not only be cogent but be compelling and not leave room for any reasonable doubt.
The trial judge faulted the contradictory positions of the investigating police officers who were called as witnesses by the prosecution.
He said their oral and written statements were contradictory and could not be relied upon.
Said Sanda: "The explanation given by the police officers in their various reports presented to the court as exhibits suggested that they did not investigate the accused because he was enjoying immunity at that time.
If they did not investigate him, then their report will be irrelevant. The officers had in their part of the report said their investigations did not implicate Omisore but that his utterances led no one in doubt that he knew more, while in another report, they said there was nothing to link the accused with the murder of Ige."
Justice Sanda who revisited the interview Omisore granted the Tempo Magazine captioned "Ige would have been killed," said the failure by the prosecution to produce the tape failed to establish the motive of the caption.
On the action of Ige's security aides, who left him to eat at the same time, leaving behind their arms, the judge said there was no evidence that the lapse could be traced to the accused.
He pointed out that in proving a murder, the court might only convict a person when the evidence is complete and compelling, leading to irresistible conclusion that the suspect was the murderer.
He referred to the evidence given by police commissioners Gabriel Adejo and Felix Ogbandu on the claim that some memo was stolen from Ige's residence by the assailant when they said that "stealing is consistent with armed robbery."
And to the question of political motivation as the reason behind the killing of Ige, the judge noted that the investigating officers concluded that his death was politically motivated.
"From the above pieces of evidence, the investigation of the police leading to the prosecution of some people is slipshod and has less to write home about. From the above, there are suspects like Bosun, the private security recruited by Ige who was not interrogated or called by the prosecution. There were the five suspects mentioned by former Governor Bisi Akande, the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and Afenifere, connection was also there.
"The police failed to turn their searchlight to this angle but instead concentrated on one angle, it ought to be thoroughly and extensively investigated. The prosecutions uncoordinated cases were merely decided by facts in the courts. There are other useful areas they ought to have beamed their searchlight on", Sanda stated.
According to him the case deserved extreme care and diligence in its investigation such that it would have left no one in doubt that it was a thorough job.
He noted that apart from the limited areas, which the police mapped out as the central focus of their investigation, there were other important and useful areas to which they ought to have explored.
"In this type of case, the entire areas of activities, involvement and connecting the deceased ought to have been thoroughly scrutinised and investigated to unravel the mystery behind the killing," Sanda said.
He held that in convicting an accused on circumstantial evidence, the Supreme Court in Valentine Ade Vs The State 1980 1-2 (SC) page 135 said: "In a case where there is no direct evidence against the prisoner but only the kind of evidence that is called circumstantial, you have a two fold talk, you must first make up your minds as to the portion of the circumstantial evidence having been established and then when you have got that clear, you must ask yourself, is this sufficient proof
"It is not sufficient to say the accused was the murderer, I know of no one else who is. There is some evidence against him and none against anyone else, therefore, I will find him guilty. Such line of reasoning as this is manifestly unreliable."
As soon as the judge announced that Omisore "is discharged and acquitted," the whole courtroom erupted in shouts of "Praise God and "winner oooo".
Some of his supporters attempted to carry him from the dock but were however prevented by the prison officials who led Omisore outside.
Asked to speak on his victory, Omisore could hardly utter a word before he was briskly taken away by his supporters who danced round the court premises.
His counsel Mr. Kunle Kalejaiye expressed delight at the judgement.
Kalejaye said he had all along believed in the innocence of Omisore.
The court's ruling according to him had clearly shown that his client never knew anything about Ige's murder.
He said: "It was just a political set-up.
"That is what we have been saying that by prosecuting this man, you have only come to expose the inadequacies of the police. Other options were opened to the police to conduct their investigation but they just refused, perhaps because of some political manipulation," Kalejaiye said.
"Omisore was later driven away in a light green Jeep with registration number 0S 169 AQ at 1.20 p.m.
At the start of the investigation Omisore's cousin, Alani, as well as his political associates and Ige's security aides were arrested.
Although he was believed to have a hand in the murder, Omisore was not arrested alongside others because of the immunity he enjoyed at the time.
His impeachment by the former Osun House of Assembly led to his arrest and arraignment in court on the same two-count charges.
Omisore whose 18 months trial went through four judges was on May 30, 2003 granted bail by Justice John Ige which was cut short by Justice Moshood Abass who revoked it.
Attempts to revalidate the bail failed even at the appellate court while his application for no-case-submission also failed.
He therefore opened his defence against the charges. Eight witnesses were called , after which he asked the court to free him of the charges
