*As Police withdraw charge in Abuja
The Nigeria Police Force will soon transfer the case file of murder charge preferred against the proprietor of Hilton Hotels and Resorts, Ile-Ife, Rahmon Adedoyin, and six others to Osun State over the murder of Mr Timothy Adegoke, a student of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State.
The transfer of the case file for re-arraignment in Osun State was sequel to the striking out of a murder case against them by Justice Modupe Osho-Adebiyi of the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Gudu, Abuja.
The judge struck out the murder case, following a notice of discontinuance by the Nigeria Police in pursuant to Section 108 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015.
The prosecuting Nigeria Police lawyer, Mr Ochogwu Ogbeh, argued the notice of discontinuance.
Incidentally, the alleged murder took place in Ile-Ife, Osun State but the police in Abuja took over the case and arraigned the defendants before the FCT High court.
But the family of the late Timothy hired a legal luminary and human rights activist, Mr Femi Falana (SAN), to take over the case.
Falana later wrote a letter to the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Baba Alkali, asking him to transfer the matter to Osun State since the incident occurred in Osun and not in Abuja.
Granting Falana’s request, the police notified the FCT High Court of its intention to discontinue the matter in a letter titled, ‘Notice of discontinuance of charge no. CR/015/22 brought pursuant to Section 108 of Administration of Criminal Act, 2015’.
Justice Osho-Adebiyi consequently struck out the case to enable the police to file fresh charge against Adedoyin and others in Osun State.
The judge took the action when the police lawyers requested that they needed to conduct further investigations into the murder of Timothy.
The late Timothy Adegoke had lodged at Adedoyin’s hotel on November 5, 2021 to write an examination at the OAU Distance Learning Centre, Moro campus.
He was declared missing on November 7, 2021 while his corpse was later found in the forest.
The Nigeria Police Force Central Investigations Department had filed criminal charges against Adedoyin and others and accused them of attempted felony, conspiracy, unlawful interference with Adegoke’s corpse and tampering with the hotel’s receipt and CCTV camera with intent to conceal evidence to prove that the deceased lodged in the hotel.
Other defendants in the case are 23-year-old Adedeji Adesola; Magdalene Chiefuna, 24; Adeniyi Aderogba and Oluwale Lawrence, both 37; Oyetunde Kazeem, 38; and Adebayo Kunle, 35, while others are said to still be at large.
The Nigeria Police Force is expected to transfer the case file to Osun State Attorney-General for the prosecution of Adedoyin and others on the grounds of jurisdiction as the late Timothy was killed in Ile-Ife, Osun State.
