Illegal arms possession: Court jails three ex-convicts 120 years

Three ex-convicts – Femi Olasupo, Musbau Oloyede and Ahmed
Akinsanya – who were arrested in 2011 by men of the Special
Anti-Robbery Squad for terrorising residents in the Iwo Road area
of Ibadan, Oyo State, were each sentenced to 40 years’ imprisonment
on Wednesday.

Some neighbours of Olasupo had reported him to the police,
alleging that he had no source of livelihood and harboured people
of questionable character.

The trio, after rigorous trial that lasted about seven years,
were found guilty of conspiracy and illegal possession of firearms
by an Oyo State High Court sitting in Ibadan.

According to the prosecution in the suit marked I/1786/2012
heard before Justice Adegboye Gbolagunte of the Ring Road High
Court 7, the first accused person was arrested in March 2011.

Upon investigation, he led detectives to an uncompleted building
behind an eatery on Iwo Road, Ibadan, where four guns were
recovered.

Olasupo’s arrest led to the arrest of Oloyede, in whose
possession some illegal firearms were also recovered at another
uncompleted building in the Iwo Road area.

When the third accused person was arrested, however, no arms
were recovered from him.

But evidence from the prosecution witnesses revealed that the
trio had earlier been jailed together at the Ilesa, Osun State
Prison, from where they were released around the same time, only to
form a gang in the Iwo Road area.

The prosecution established that the trio made confessional
statements, although in their defence, they alleged that they were
tortured by men of SARS and forced to sign the statements.

Their counsel, Oluwole Olukole, had argued before the court that
the accused were not arrested at any crime scene and that no
forensic test was conducted on the firearms recovered by the
police.

He had, therefore, prayed that they be discharged and
acquitted.

After the trial-within-trial conducted to establish the
culpability of the accused, the court found them guilty based on
circumstantial evidence.

The judge found them guilty of conspiracy to commit armed
robbery, as well as illegal possession of firearms, contrary to the
Robbery and Firearms (Special Provisions) Act Laws of the
Federation.

The judge said, “In my view, the recovery of firearms in
possession of the accused is sufficient to justify their guilt. It
was my decision after the trial-within-trial that the accused fell
guilty of conspiracy. They were jailed together at Ilesa prison and
released at about the same time. Count one is well founded and
sustained in this case. I, therefore, hold that the accused are
guilty of the offences as charged,” he said.

Before handing down the sentence, the judge asked for allocutus
from each of them since their counsel was absent from court to
plead on their behalf, and they individually begged that the judge
should temper justice with mercy.

In his judgment, Gbolagunte relied on sections 2(3) and 6(b) of
the Robbery and Firearms (Special Provisions) Act, and accordingly
sentenced the three accused to “20 years on count 1 of conspiracy
and 20 years on count 2 of illegal possession of firearms.”

“The sentences are to run concurrently. The time they have spent
in custody after arrest should be deducted from the sentence. I,
therefore, make an order that the exhibits recovered from the
convicts be seized and destroyed by the state,” he said.

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