42-year-old Stephen Omoniyi, has reportedly been sentenced to death by hanging by Justice Olukayode Ogundana of the Ekiti State High Court for allegedly murdering a Monarch in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State.
It was gathered that the crime was carried out in August 2018 when the suspect killed an 80-year-old Oba Gbadebo Ibitoye Olowoselu ll, the Onise of Odo-Oro Ekiti, in a desperate bid to take over the throne.
The suspect confessed to the crime by saying the crown did not belong to the late Oba Ogunsakin because the throne has been declared vacant following the demise of their previous ruler, hence he was nominated by his family to take over the position only for the late Oba to resurface to claim the throne.
“My family nominated me to take over only for him to resurface again and said he remained the Oba. My family nominated me in December 2017, and since then, I have been trying to take over. That day when I got to the palace, it was the late Oba (Ogunsakin) that first att@cked me and I attacked him back which led to his death“, he confessed.
One of the chiefs in the community gave an account of the occurrence, saying; “We were at the palace on that day for Onise in Council meeting, around 7am before the commencement of the meeting, Omoniyi Ademola Stephen entered the palace and sat on Kabiyesi’s seat but the Chiefs frowned at his action and drove him away.
After the meeting, late Onise in the company of his male clerk were trekking back to the main palace, Ademola came out of his hiding and attacked Kabiyesi with a knife on the road and st@bbed him to de@th. Before that day he has been parading himself as the king of the town,” he added.
Justice Ogundana while giving his verdict on the case refused to believe that the suspect was mentally unstable before committing the crime, hence he pronounced a death sentence on him by hanging.
