By Banji Ayoola
About four months after he was sentenced to life imprisonment for complicity in the disappearance of a one-year-old boy, Gold Kolawole, in his church in November 2019, the founder of Sotitobire Praising Chapel, Akure, in the Ondo State capital, Prophet Babatunde Alfa, has approached the Appeal court to quash the conviction.
He was sentenced together with five workers of his church on October 6, last year by the trial judge, Justice Olusegun Odusola, at the climax of a trial that lasted between January and October 2020, after they were found guilty based on the circumstantial evidence presented by the prosecution led by a former Attorney General of the state, Adekola Olawoye Esq.
Specifically, the other five convicts, including Omodara Olayinka, Margaret Oyebola, Grace Ogunjobi, Egunjobi Motunrayo and Esther Kayode, were found guilty of the two-count charges of conspiracy as well as aiding and abetting kidnapping preferred against them.
Court documents indicate that hearing will begin tomorrow at the Appeal court in Akure.
The cleric had approached the Appellate Court with 17 grounds appeal, asking it to upturn the judgement of the lower court which convicted him.
It was learnt that two Senior Advocates of Nigeria, SAN, will be leading his new legal team.
The popular cleric ran into trouble when one-year-old Gold Kolawole was declared missing during a Sunday service.
He was subsequently arrested by the Department of State Services, DSS, and dragged before a Magistrate Court in Akure, after which he was tried at the High Court on two count charge bordering on kidnapping, aiding and abetting to kidnap.
Two Senior Advocates of Nigeria, Chief Gboyega Awomolo and his wife, Victoria will be leading six other lawyers to quash the conviction of the cleric and his church teachers by the lower court.
The documents showed that a Notice of Appeal with five grounds was first filed on November 5, 2020, while an additional 12 grounds was filed on December 12 2020.
Alfa is contending among other things: that the judge erred in law as the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case, while the DSS also has no powers to investigate the matter that should have been handled by the police.
He says the court tried and convicted him in violation of his rights under the Nigeria Constitution and thereby occasioned a miscarriage of justice.
He urged the appellate court to set aside his conviction as well as discharge and acquit him.
Presiding Judge, Justice Rita Nosakhare Pemu, in her ruling, gave the appellant 14 days to file an amendment to the notice of appeal.
Justice Pemu said the next date of an adjournment would be communicated to both parties.
Hearing for the motion on notice has been slated for Monday, February 8, 2021 at the Appeal Court in Akure.
Investigation also showed that parties including the Ondo State Ministry of Justice are abreast of the development and ready to begin another round of ligation in one the most celebrated cases in the history of Ondo State judiciary.
The prophet was sentenced to life imprisonment on October 6 last year, as reported by The Radiance of that day in a story titled “Tears, Wailing As Court Jails Akure Prophet, Sotitobire Over Missing Child.”
According to the report, there were tears, wailing and cursing that day by members of the Sotitobire Praising Chapel, Akure as the cleric was being marched to prison following his sentence by an Akure High Court to life imprisonment over the disappearance of Kolawole Gold boy in his church.
Some of them cursed under their lips as they struggled to catch a glimpse of the cleric being taken away to a Correctional Centre.
He was sentenced after 11 months legal tussle over the mysterious disappearance of a 13-month-old boy, Gold Kolawole from his church.
Five workers of his church were also jailed as they were found guilty of the two-count charges of conspiracy as well as aiding and abetting kidnapping preferred against them.
In his judgement that lasted over five hours, Justice Olusegun Odusola, held that the accused were convicted based on the circumstantial evidence presented by the prosecution.
He condemned in strong terms the complicity, connivance and compromise of the Ondo State Police Command in the missing child saga.
Odusola ruled that the lackadaisical attitude of Prophet Babatunde showed his involvement in the disappearance of Gold Kolawole from his church in November last year.
Babatunde and the five church workers were sentenced to seven years imprisonment on count one, which bordered on conspiracy to commit felony to with aiding and abetting kidnapping.
The Judge handed down life imprisonment on count two bordering on aiding and abetting kidnapping contrary to and punishable under the Section 5 of the Ondo State Anti-kidnapping and Anti-Abduction law 2010.
The 7th defendant, Peter Anjorin, was discharged and acquitted for lack of substantial evidence from the prosecution.
Anjorin was accused of destroying evidence contrary to and punishable under Section 123 of the criminal code law of Ondo State 2006.
Justice Odusola also struck out an application by Prophet Babatunde’s counsel, Olusola Oke, seeking to vacate his order that he should be investigated.
The judge had earlier ordered that Oke be investigated by the DSS following some allegations raised by the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Adekola Olawoye.
The popular church, located at Oshinle quarters area of Akure, was burnt down by a mob after Gold’s disappearance. Gold has not been seen till date.
Kolawole was one-year-old at that time of his disappearance from the church in Akure.
He went missing on November 10 during a Sunday service after his mother, Modupe Kolawole, dropped him at the children’s unit of the church.
Specifically, the little boy was abducted by an unknown person during the church service at the children section of Sotitobire Praising Chapel, located at Oshinle Quarters in Akure, the state capital, in November last year, and the whereabouts of the boy was never known.
For this, Babatunde was arrested on December 10, 2019 by the Department of State Services, alongside seven other members of the church, following a petition by parents of the missing child. They were arraigned before a magistrate’s court on six counts.
The case was later transferred to the state High Court.
While delivering his judgement on October 6 last year, Justice Odusola condemned in strong terms the complicity, compromise and lackadaisical attitude of the Ondo State Police command after Kolawole went missing, an incident that led to the burning of the church.
The judge convicted the defendants, having found them guilty of two counts of kidnapping, and aiding and abetting to kidnap “based on the circumstantial evidence” presented by the prosecution.
He said the prosecution proved circumstantial evidence against the accused persons.
The popular pastor was charged with kidnap, and remanded at the Olokuta Correctional Centre following his arraignment before an Akure Magistrate Court in December last year over his alleged involvement in the disappearance of a one-year-old child, Gold Kolawole, in his church on Sunday, November 10, 2019.
He was charged for conspiracy to kidnap and aiding kidnapping.
The offences are a breach of Section 5 of Ondo State Anti-kidnapping and anti-abduction law 2010.
One of the suspects, M. Anjorin, was accused of destroying and secretly taking away vital evidence that could have aided speedy investigation in respect of the missing boy, an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 123 of the Criminal Code and Cap 37 Laws of Ondo State.
The State Security Services arraigned them before a Magistrate Court in Akure.
Alfa was arraigned alongside six other defendants, Omodara Olayinka Margaret Oyebola, Grace Ogunjobi, Egunjobi Motunrayo, Esther Kayode and Peter Anjorin.
His arrest by the SSS followed a petition by the parents of the missing child who had lost hope in the police who earlier began an investigation on the matter.
While the case dragged, angry youths invaded the church located at Oshinle area of Akure and set it ablaze over a rumour that security operatives had exhumed the corpse of the baby from the altar of the church.
