By Ayodele Olalere
Justice Olayinka Faaji of the Federal High Court, Lagos, on Friday, discharged and acquitted an 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, as the mastermind in the murder of Godfrey Ifeanyi, an employee 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 image.
He had also claimed that Onamade granted a media interview where he mentioned his (Fatiu’s) name as the sponsor of the attack.
He further claimed that the allegation stopped him from securing 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 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 prosecution counsel, Omotayo Olatubosun, called two witnesses. The first witness, Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) Omaka Udodinma told the court that a petition 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 that Fatiu was not competent to contest the election because of his alleged mis-governance during 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 chat log in a Whatsapp group where he claimed that Onamade accused him of the crime.
In his argument before the court, Osijo said that the prosecution failed to provide concrete evidence that Onamade committed the crime of cyber crime and bullying. He, thereafter, filed a no-case submission.
In his submission, the counsel sought “an order of the court discharging the defendant from the offences in Counts 1 and 2 of the Charge dated November 18, 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 November 18, 2021, neither did the prosecution lead evidence to link the defendant to the crime 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 failed to show that the defendant has any case to answer with respect to the offences charged in all the counts of charge”.
Osijo argued further that it would be in the interest of justice to grant the application and acquit Onamade of the charges.
In his ruling, Justice Faaji held that the prosecution failed to prove its allegations against Onamade.
The court noted that evidence presented by the prosecution did not show that Onamade made such allegations and circulated them on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter (now X) as there was no evidence that 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 that he was responsible for the circulation of the allegation.
The judge further ruled that 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 aka Maja, Atunrase Sodiq, Shittu Michael Olawale, Olaide Opeifa aka Ote and Jamiu Omosanya aka Orobo are standing trial for murder before Justice Hakeem Oshodi of the Lagos High Court, Ikeja.