Jumoke: Police ropes Ogboni leader at Yoruba Mega Rally into 25-year-old’s murder

The police in Lagos have charged 48 suspects arrested during the Lagos July 3 Oodua Republic demonstration to court. To stack things up,  one of them is charged with the murder that took place around the venue guarded by hundreds of police officers that day.

Lagos Commissioner of Police Hakeem Odumosu charged the suspects before a Magistrate Court sitting in Yaba.

According to the rap sheet, the 48 suspects were charged with unlawful assembly, unlawful society and conducts likely to cause breach of public peace at the Gani Fawehinmi Park.

Some of the suspects were intercepted and found with guns, axes, Oodua flags, Yoruba Armed Forces vests and other items. Others were arrested at the protest ground in Ojota.

Worse, the police said Jumoke Oyeleyemoke, 25, found dead around the venue, was shot by one of those arrested—Oba Tajudeen Bakare.

The lady, however, was suspected, by protesters, to have been killed by stray bullets from the police guns.

The state command in a press release denied that, insisting a sharp object killed her. A coroner inquest finding however confirmed it was a bullet that pierced her lung.

Now the police said it has found the killer.

The 51-year-old initially caught in the general dragnet alongside other protesters claimed he was the head of the Ogboni Fraternity in the area. He said he and his members—all dressed in white as photos circulated in the media confirmed—were coming from a rite in Ikorodu.

Bakare said the procession was going to round the bend around the venue when they got arrested as the rally went rowdy.

But the police claim disproved that—with two counts of unlawful possession and murder.

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“That you Tajudeen Bakara, and others now at large…while in a 4 Runner Jeep with a registration number LSR 322 FK was in possession of a Baretta Pistol with two life ammunition and therefore committed an offence punishable under section 330 of the Criminal Law of Lagos 2015,” count 3 reads.

Count 2 actually pinned Bakare down to the killing: “That you Tajudeen Bakare, and others now at large…did unlawfully kill one Jumoke Oyeleke with a Baretta pistol hold in your possession, during your unlawful assembly, and hereby committed an offence punishable under section 330 of the Criminal Law of Lagos 2015,” count 2 reads.