Dethroned Lagos monarch jailed 15 years for faking kidnap

Mutiu Ogundare, the dethroned Baale of Shangisha in the Magodo area of Lagos State, has been sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.

Ogundare bagged the jail term on Tuesday, September 27, 2022, after Justice Hakeem Oshodi of the Lagos High Court in Ikeja area of the state, found him guilty of faking his own kidnap.

Ogundare was first remanded five years ago by an Ogba magistrate’s court, Ikeja, alongside his wife Abolanle, and brother Opeyemi Mohammed.

It would be recalled that on July 5, 2017, the convict “put himself forward to be kidnapped for the purpose of causing breach of public peace” contrary to Section 5 of the Kidnapping Prohibition Law of Lagos State 2017.

However, while Ogundare’s wife was released because it was discovered that he had no link with it, the convict’s brother Mohammed also bagged 15 years imprisonment.

Appealing to the judge, the first convict’s counsel, Olarewaju Ajanaku, who represented his lawyer, Dr Muniz Banire, in his allocutus , begged the court to temper justice with mercy.

According to Ajanaku, the convict had turned a new leaf and he did not think through his actions when he committed he faked his kidnap.

In his ruling, Justice Oshodi, however, said Ogundare showed no remorse, adding that hence, a lesson has to be taught as a deterrent for others.

“I have considered the allocutus of the defence counsel. However, it is in the view of this court that the defendants showed no remorse during the trial.

“In fact, the first defendant tried to buy his way out of the court. A lesson has to be taught to serve as a deterrent to others.

“The defendants are hereby sentenced to 10 years on count one without an option of fine; one year on count two with an option of N200,000 fine, and 15 years on count three without an option of fine,” the judge ruled.

Justice Oshodi maintained that the sentences would run concurrently from the day Ogundare and his brother were arrested.