Arson : Three remanded for setting ancestral home of traditional chief ablaze

Three suspects accused of burning the ancestral home of the Baale of Erebe, Olusegun Lawal, in the Odogbolu Local Government Area of Ogun State have been remanded in the custodial centre in the Ijebu Ode area of the state.

The suspects are Adeyemi Oluwole, Adebola Ogunkoya, and Joseph Fidelis. The suspects were alleged to have been terrorising the community for a while.

The suspects were arraigned on three counts of arson and breach of peace before Magistrate A. Ogunmodede of the Odogbolu Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.

The charges read in part, “That you, Adeyemi Oluwole, Adebola Ogunkoya, Joseph Fidelis, and others still at large, sometime in September 2022, at Omu Ijebu in the Odogbolu Magisterial District, did conspire among yourselves to commit felony to wit arson.

“That you, Adeyemi Oluwole, Adebola Ogunkoya, Joseph Fidelis and others still at large on the same date, time and place, in the aforesaid magisterial district, did willingly set fire to the living apartment.”

The monarch was represented in court by his counsel, Olanrewaju Aiyedun.

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The police prosecutor told the court that the offences were punishable under Sections 516, 433, and 294 (d) of the Criminal Code Vol. 1 Laws of Ogun State of Nigeria, 2006.

The prosecutor presented before the court a remand application requesting the defendants to be held in prison.

Ogumodede granted the prosecutor’s request and ordered the defendants to be remanded.

The case was adjourned till April 18, 2023.

It was learnt that the suspects alongside other fleeing members of the gang invaded the traditional ruler’s ancestral home but when he was nowhere to be found, they set his home ablaze and destroyed the chief’s valuables.

Commenting on the development, the monarch said he petitioned the state governor, Dapo Abiodun, the state Commissioner of Police, and the Chairman of the LGA, seeking immediate action to rescue them from the hoodlums who had taken over his community.

According to Chief Olusegun Lawal , “Since last year, some land grabbers had been invading my community. I had written several letters to the authorities. I was at Ijebu Ode when I received a distress call that my ancestral home was on fire.