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No fewer than 12,000 supporters of Prophetess Naomi Ogunwusi, the estranged wife of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, have demanded justice for her, describing her arrest, arraignment and remand in a custodial facility as unfair.
Naomi was arrested alongside the Chief Executive Officer of Agidigbo FM, Oriyomi Hamzat, after the stampede at a funfair they organised in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, turned tragic, claiming the lives of 35 children on December 18, 2024.
The prophetess, Hamzat, and the Principal of Islamic High School, Ibadan, where the event was held, Fasasi Abdullahi, are currently remanded at the Agodi Custodial Centre by Chief Magistrate Olabisi Ogunkanmi of Magistrate’s Court 1, Iyaganku, Ibadan.
The defendants were arraigned on four counts bordering on conspiracy, causing death by negligence, endangering public safety, and failing to provide adequate security and medical facilities at the event.
Naomi, Hamzat, and Abdullahi pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The ex-queen had planned to host 5,000 children, aged 0-13, across Ibadan for free under the aegis of the Women in Need of Guidance and Support Foundation with the funfair.
The programme was scheduled to start at 10 am, while police were expected to be at the venue by 8 am.
Reports indicated that the event was initially planned for 5,000 children, but over 7,500 children showed up.
Sunday PUNCH gathered that the stampede occurred as children and their parents attempted to break through the main gate and scale the school fence to enter the venue at all costs.
Naomi and Hamzat have been in custody since the incident turned disastrous.
However, the ex-queen’s supporters continue to call for her release, arguing that she was carrying out a charitable programme to bring smiles to the faces of underprivileged children.
Thousands of Naomi’s supporters signed an online petition to demand fairness in the judicial process concerning her matter.
The petition, which started on Thursday, had gathered 12,000 signatures as of the time of filing this report on Saturday.
The originator of the petition, Yetunde Ola, stated that Naomi’s actions were driven by an earnest intention to alleviate the suffering of hungry children, but she found herself “unfairly entangled in a web of legal accusations that were both disheartening and misplaced.”
“We, the supporters of Queen Naomi, are seeking justice. It is paramount that her court cases are addressed with utmost impartiality and integrity. We must hold our judicial systems accountable for their actions and ensure that they remain transparent, fair and unbiased in their proceedings.
“Our plea is, thus, simple: Give Queen Silekunola Naomi a fair trial, unaffected by bias and calumny. We present this petition to highlight the necessity for a just legal process that respects the evidence and operates in compliance with the principles of justice.
“We reinforce our commitment to stand by Queen Naomi, championing justice, fairness, and truth,” she said.
This was as her mother, Funmilayo Ogunseyi, called on President Bola Tinubu and well-meaning Nigerians to intervene in her daughter’s legal troubles.
In an emotional video that has gone viral, Ogunseyi claimed that her daughter’s predicament was orchestrated by “powerful persons.”
“They say her ordeal is an ‘order from above.’ Please, I beg those in power to release her. She is not a killer; she came to help. Naomi is fragile and sick. President Tinubu, I beg you, come to our aid,” she implored.
The sentiments shared by Naomi’s supporters and her mother re-echoed insinuations that the ex-queen was being persecuted with her arrest and remand.
However, the Oyo State Government stated that there was no reason to persecute the prophetess.
Speaking with Sunday PUNCH, the state Commissioner for Information, Dotun Oyelade, said those spreading such insinuations would be unfair if they expected the government to interfere with the judicial process.
He also denied that the government knew about the programme.
He said, “It is a laughable insinuation. What is the motive for victimising the lady? We barely know her name. The government does not know anything about her apart from the normal stuff on social media. We have no relationship with her in any manner. There is no altar of political conflict or anything that looks like it between the Oyo State Government and the woman.
“The government did not officially know anything about her enterprise, what she does, or what she planned to do in Oyo State. We were not formally notified because there is no documentation to show that the government was given notification of what she wanted to do through the normal time-tested processes. So, she remained an unknown quantity and faceless to this administration.
“Are they asking us to meddle with the judiciary? A case was taken to court. Even a government official, the principal of a secondary school, was equally arraigned and detained because 35 of our children died.
“And there are no draconian issues extraneous to a normal course of justice on the ground.
“So, we will advise, therefore, that those who are engaged in such meddlesomeness allow the course of justice to prevail. That is the beauty of democracy. No matter whose ox is gored, for democracy to survive and thrive, justice must take its course.”
However, a video of a meeting between the Oyo State Commissioner for Women Affairs, Toyin Balogun, and Naomi has surfaced online.
The meeting was held a day before the programme.
In the video, Balogun is seen and heard asking the ex-queen about the programme. After Naomi explained, the commissioner promised to attend the event.
Balogun said, “It is a fantastic intervention, I must say. It’s laudable to have an aspiration to put smiles on the faces of children, particularly the ones I call the special children. You are probably going to have to do this again next year; you are probably going to have to come back.
“On behalf of the Oyo State Government, on behalf of the Ministry of Women Affairs, we will be looking forward to doing something collaborative for both the women and the children in Ibadan, going forward. It is a laudable venture, one we are proud of and happy to be part of.”
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