Murder: Court discharge, acquits Onamade of cybercrime allegation by ex-Ijede council boss

Murder: Court discharge, acquits Onamade of  cybercrime allegation by ex-Ijede council boss

Justice Olayinka Faaji of the Federal High High Court, Lagos, on Friday discharged and acquitted Ikorodu based chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC and  owner of Western Funeral Home, Ijede, Oluwatosin Onamade of cybercrime charge filed against  him by the former chairman of Ijede LCDA, Fatiu Jimoh Salisu 

The court acquitted Onamade of two counts charge of cybercrime brought against him by Fatiu who had accused Onamade of accusing him of being the mastermind of the murder of Godfrey Ifeanyi, a staff of Western Funeral Home in 2021 in the build up to the local government primary elections in which Fatiu was seeking a second term in office and Onamade was a contestant.

Ifeanyi was murdered after some thugs allegedly hired by Fatiu invaded Onamade's office and attacked his staff.

Fatiu, in the charge before the Federal High Court claimed that Onamade committed cybercrime by circulating his name on various Whatsapp groups accusing him of being responsible for the murder of Ifeanyi thereby tarnishing his inage.

He had also claim Onamade granted a media interview where he mentioned his name as the sponsor of the attack.

He further claimed the allegation prevented him from getting his party's ticket for a second term in office as council chairman which has affected his political career.

The charge read ' that you, Oluwatosin Onamade 'M', sometime in May 2021 in Lagos within  the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court did commit, an illegal act to wit; intentionally circulating a grossly offensive publication through your 

Facebook/Instagram handle which you knew to be false, for the purpose of 

causing insult to one Hon. Fatiu Salisu, ljede LCDA Chairman by accusing him 

of the murder of late Tony Godfrey, you thereby committed an offence 

punishable under section 24 of the Cyber Crimes Act, 2015.”

 Count 2 of the charge also read  " that you, Oluwatosin Onamade 'M', sometime in May 2021 in Lagos within 

the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court knowingly caused the transmission 

of communication through your WhatsApp to harass one Hon. Fatiu Salisu, 

ljede LCDA Chairman by falsely alleging that he sponsored the attack at 

Western Funeral Home Limited office and murder of late Tony Godfrey, you 

thereby committed an offence punishable under section 24(2)(a) of the 

Cybercrimes Act, 2015.”

During trial, the prosecuton counsel, Omotayo Olatubosun  called two witnesses. The first witness, a Chief Superintendent of Police, CSP, Omaka Udodinma told the court that a petiton was forwarded to his team for investigation  by the then Inspector General of Police,  IGP, from the office of former Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola.

He said his team invited Salisu, to explain the rationale behind the petition after which the investigating team proceeded to Lagos to arrest the defendant, Onamade for questioning. 

The witness  said Onamade was asked to retract the statement accusing Fatiu of being mastermind of the attack or provide evidence backing his claim, adding that the team received a compact disc showing the defendant accusing the petitioner of his involvement in the incident.

He added that Onamade told the team that on the day of the attack, he saw Fatiu in an unregistered Toyota RAV 4 Jeep in company of the assailants who attacked him in his office. 

He mentioned evidences provided by Onamade to the investigating team to include two Closed Circuit Television, CCTV CDs containing footage of the attack, as well as a copy of press release by a group, Concerned Residents of Ijede, claiming Fatiu was not competent to contest in the election because of his alleged mis-governance in his  first tenure.

Under cross examination by the defendant's counsel,Adedayo Osijo,  Udodinma admitted that his team did not  investigate all the suspects arrested  in connection with the murder namely Farouq Fasasi, Gbolahan Olubi, Owolabi Sadiq, Shittu Michael Olawale and Olayide Opeifa to ascertain if the allegations against Fatiu were true.

Osijo further asked the witness how his investigating team arrived at its conclusion that Onamade's allegation against the petitioner was a defamation of his character since the team failed to investigate the suspects.

Fatiu, who was the second witness presented before the court a supposedly printed  chats in a Whatsapp group where he claimed Onamade accused him of the offense.

In his argument before the court, Osijo said that the prosecution failed to provide concrete evidence that Onamade committed the offense of cyber crime and bullying. He thereafter filed a no-case submission..

In his submission, the counsel sought for 'an order  of the court discharging the defendant from the  offences in Counts 1 and 2 of the Charge dated 18th November 2021 and for such order this honourable court may deem fit to make in the circumstance of this case.'

He based his submission on the grounds that the 'prosecution did not lead evidence to establish and/or show the 

existence of the essential elements of the alleged offence preferred against 

defendant in Counts 1 and 2 of the charge dated 18th November 2021 neither did the prosecution lead evidence to link the defendant to the offence allegedly committed.'

He further noted in his submission that 

the evidence presented by the prosecution is so 'manifestly unreliable that this Honourable Court cannot rely on it to convict the defendant,' adding that the prosecution has not shown that the defendant has any case to answer 

with respect to the offences charged in all the counts of Charge.'

Osijo argued it would be in the interest of justice to grant this application and acquit Onamade of the charges.

In his ruling, Justice Faaji ruled that the prosecution failed to prove its allegations against Onamade. 

The court noted that  evidence presented by the prosecution did not show Onamade made such allegations and circulated them on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter(now X) as there was no evidence they were found on such social media platforms which would have supported the allegation of cybercrime.

It further noted that the alleged  Whatsapp group chats did not show Onamade's telephone number to suggest he was responsible for the circulation of the allegation.

The judge further ruled the first prosecution witness failed to conduct thorough investigations into the matter.

Justice Faaji noted that the two counts carry a punishment of 10 and 3 years imprisonment each if convicted or a fine of N7million and N25million each respectively.

The court therefore discharged and acquitted Onamade of all the charges.

The murder suspects;

Olanrewaju Adebiyi a.k.a Maja, Atunrase Sodiq, Shittu Michael Olawale, Olaide Opeifa A.K.A. Ote and Jamiu Omosanya A.K.A. Orobo are resently standing trial for murder before Justice Hakeem Oshodi of the Lagos High Court, Ikeja.