A Federal High Court sitting in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, has found five persons guilty of defrauding former Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Timothy Owoeye to the tune of N38m. The court sentenced the five of them to five years in prison, each.
Kazeem Agbabiaka, Femi Oyebode, Abdul-Rasheed Ojonla, Babatunde Oluajo, Adebiyi Kehinde, and Ismaila Azeez were convicted for spreading a nude video of Owoeye over the internet in 2018.
In the 13-second video, Owoeye was seen taking a bath in an open market at night, allegedly for a ritual purpose to help win the 2019 election. He was a lawmaker representing Ilesa East at the State Assembly.
While Agbabiaka (herbalist), Oyebode (community leader), Ojonla (community leader) and Babatunde (Prince) were convicted of conspiracy and advance-fee fraud, Adebiyi was convicted of cyberstalking.
After the trial that lasted for four years with 57 exhibits presented including flash drives and bank statements from Guarantee Trust Bank, WEMA Bank, and First Bank, among others, Justice Emmanuel Ayoola who found the men guilty, said they conspired to swindle the politician of N38 million and caused exposed him to ridicule with the viral video.
The legal counsel to the convicts pleaded with the judge to temper justice with mercy on the ground that they were first-time offenders and family men but the judge went ahead to sentence all the convicts, who were initially arraigned in court on October 19, 2018, to five years imprisonment each.
