Adewale Oyekan, the 50 years old son of Oba Adeyinka Oyekan, Oba of Lagos, who died on March 1, 2003, has been sentenced to death alongside a former domestic servant, Lateef Balogun, 27, for the murder of Sikirat Ekun, a 62-year-old businesswoman and politician.
According to the prosecution, the prince hired Balogun for N6,000 to murder Mrs Ekun. The convicts, who have been in custody for seven years, murdered Mrs Ekun by strangling her and throwing her corpse in a 1,000-feet well in her home.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that according to the prosecution led by Akin George, the convicts committed the offences at 1.00a.m. on October 17, 2012, at the home of the deceased located at No. 5, Babatunde Lalega St., Omole Phase One, Lagos State.
The prosecution said that the deceased was a restauranteur who knew Mr Oyekan due to her friendship with his late mother. “To render assistance to the prince, Mrs Ekun employed him as the manager of her restaurant.
Balogun, the second defendant, was a former domestic staff of Ekun, who was employed by her to take care of her elderly father,” Mr George said. He submitted that Mr Balogun’s employment was, however, terminated following a dispute with Mrs Ekun.
“The convicts conspired, killed the deceased and threw her corpse in a well within the premises of her home, and took over her businesses and property including a bus which was sold for N170,000.
When any inquiry was made by family and friends about her whereabouts, Mr Oyekan informed them that she travelled to Abuja for the Ileya (Eid-el Kabir) festival. .
He passed this information by sending a text message from Ekun’s phone. However, following worry from members of her family and after an extensive search, her corpse was found in December 2012, by well diggers and firefighters.
The convicts had placed a generator, a gas cylinder and other household items on the corpse to conceal it in the 1,000 feet well,” he said. The trial at the High Court began on April 14, 2015.
