Ondo: Three remanded over death of farmer

Three suspects have been remanded by an Akure Chief Magistrate’s Court for allegedly killing a 36-year-old farmer, Sunday Ayeni, in Uba Oka-Akoko, Akoko South West Local Government Area of Ondo State.

The defendants who were arraigned before the court on two counts were Abdullah Halilu Tumbi, 59; Mohamodu Adamu Bonkolo, 50; and Shagari Muhammed, 45.

On August 10, Ayeni was hacked to death on his farm by suspected herders, a few days after he was compensated for the destruction of his crops by the cows of a herder that grazed on his farm.

According to the Police Prosecutor, Folashade Adeyemi, the defendants allegedly conspired with others at large to kill the farmer by stabbing him with a cutlass while he was working on his farm.

The charge reads: “That you, Abdullah Halilu Tumbi, Mohamodu Adamu Bonkolo, and Shagari Muhammed, and others at large, did stab one Ayeni Sunday ‘m’ during a clash with him on his farm with a sharp cutlass on his stomach, which eventually led to his death.”

The prosecutor, who informed the court that the offence contravened Sections 316, 319, and 324 of the Criminal Code Law of Ondo State, 2006, urged that the defendants be remanded at any correctional centre in the state pending advice from the office of the Directorate of Public Prosecutions, DPP.

The Chief Magistrate, A. Akinboboye, not taking the pleas of the defendants, ordered their remand at the Olokuta Correctional Centre and that the case file be duplicated and sent to DPP, with the case adjourned until December for mention.