A magistrate’s court sitting in Osogbo, Osun State has
ordered the Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr.
Fimihan Adeoye, to arrest the Oluwo of Iwo, Oba
Abdulrasheed Akanbi, and bring him to court on January 6,
2017.
The magistrate, Olusola Aluko, gave the fresh order on
Friday when the case involving the monarch came up for
hearing again.
He said he was surprised that the police commissioner had
not arrested Oluwo since he first issued the bench warrant
of arrest against the first class monarch.
Aluko expressed
dismay that the police commissioner had not effected the
bench warrant of arrest he had issued against the
monarch, which he said he had signed and handed over to
an officer of the state police command.
He said, “I am baffled that the commissioner of police has
not done his duty. I am also surprised by his claim that he
was unaware of the bench warrant. That must be a joke of
the century. I, therefore, order him to immediately arrest
the respondent.
“I am not joking with my order. He (Akanbi) should be
arrested and brought to this court on Friday, January 6,
2017. The sanctity of the judiciary must be protected.”
Aluko stated that the case instituted by the Oluwo Oke of
Iwo Oke, Oba Kadiri Adeoye, against Akanbi before his
court was not a chieftaincy case but a criminal one.
He said, “I will like to say that the matter before me was
filed based on sections 35, 37 and 38 of the criminal
procedures of Osun State.
“In a criminal case such as this, a defendant must appear
in court. This court is not trying a chieftaincy matter. It is
the law that once an order is made, to prevent anarchy,
such an order must be obeyed.
“It is to be noted that an order was first made by my
brother, Magistrate Omisade of Iwo jurisdiction before the
case was transferred here by fiat and I had asked him
(Akanbi) three times to appear before this court.”
It will be recalled that the magistrate had on December 2
threatened to issue a bench warrant against the Oluwo if
he failed to appear before him on December 20, but the
monarch failed to appear before the court.
The magistrate then issued a bench warrant against the
monarch on December 20 but the monarch allegedly said
he would not appear before the magistrate.
Aluko had also issued a fresh bench warrant against the
monarch on Wednesday for contempt of court but the
monarch still did not appear on Friday.
The Oluwo had earlier told our correspondent in an
interview that he would not appear before the magistrate,
but subsequent efforts to get his reaction to the fresh
order of arrest were not successful as calls put across to
his telephone did not connect.
The police commissioner, when contacted on the
telephone by our correspondent after the fresh court order,
said he was not aware of it.
