LAGOS TRADITIONAL RULER IS SENTENCED TO 15 YEARS IN PRISON FOR FAKING HIS OWN KIDNAPPING

Mutiu Ogundare, the dethroned Baale of Shangisha in Lagos state's Magodo area, was sentenced to 15 years in prison by a High Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, for faking his own abduction. 

On Tuesday, September 27, Justice Hakeem Oshodi sentenced Ogundare on a two-count charge of breach of peace and false kidnapping. 

The defendants committed the crime on July 5, 2017, according to the prosecution. According to the prosecution, Ogundare volunteered to be kidnapped in order to cause a breach of public order, and that his brother and wife assisted him in the crime.

 

However, the court discharged and acquitted Ogundare's wife.

"I considered the defense counsels' allocutus. However, this court believes that the defendants showed no remorse during the trial. Indeed, the first defendant attempted to buy his way out of court. To serve as a deterrent to others, a lesson must be devised.

The defendants are sentenced to ten years in prison without the possibility of a fine for count one, one year in prison with the possibility of a fine of N200,000 for count two, and fifteen years in prison without the possibility of a fine for count three.

"The sentencing will begin on the day they were arrested," the judge said.

It should be noted that Ogundare, who admitted to security services that he staged the kidnapping to discredit the state government, was removed as the baale of Shangisha in July 2017 by Akinwunmi Ambode, former governor of Lagos.