Once in a rare while, the legal system of Nigeria seem to be getting its acts in order, then politics and its associated elections come up and things will fall apart. When this happens Nigerians start seeing very strange laws and legal decisions that bafull even the most astute of legal minds. Examples of election where the candidate that came fourth in an election who happen to belong to the ruling party being given the mandate and the one that came first asked to step down by the highest court of the land start manifesting.

However, once again our faith in the court of the land is once again reinstated as
an Ondo State High Court sitting in Akure, the state capital on Friday sentenced  killers of Olufunke Olakunri, the daughter of Afenifere leader to death by hanging.
The condenmed include, Lawal Mazaje from Kogi Sate; Adamu Adamu from Adamawa State; Mohammed Usman from Sokoto State.
The fourth defendant, Auwalu Abubakar from Zamfara State was however discharged and acquitted for aiding and abetting. Why, we do not know, as this gave the defending lawyer a loophole in which to appeal for the three that are sentenced to death.
They were part of an eight-man gang of bandits which ambushed the vehicle of Mrs Olakunri on July 12, 2019 along Ore-Kajola expressway and opened fire on her which resulted in her death in the process. Why the case came up at this time after three years delay leaves some questions to be answered. Some say it is a response to the spate of extra judicial killings that have occured recently around the nation, which include the killing of a Christian student in the north of Nigeria for an absurd reason and the massacre in a Catholic church which left scores of worshippers dead and the nation and the entire concerned world in shock. Therefore with such judgment, the judicial system of the land needs to stamp its authority that it will not let the perpetuators of such heinous crimes to get away with it.

However, the legal adviser to the Scope News says that it is in the face of the upcoming elections and the likely court cases that usually follow in its wake in Nigeria, the courts need to clear backlog of cases so as to be free to handle the complexities of the election suits.
The defendants were arraigned on counts of armed robbery, conspiracy, conspiracy to commit felony, conspiracy to commit armed robbery, kidnapping, murder, aiding and abetting. 
Justice Williams Rotimi Olamide, held in his judgment that prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt, thus, sentenced the three defendants to death by hanging.
The prosecution counsel and Commissioner for Justice in the state, Charles Titiloye, in his reaction expressed satisfaction with the judgement.
Titiloye said, “the court has found three of the defendants guilty, it has become very clear that the three persons conspired to commit armed robbery, murder and killing of the lady and a hunter who was in the bush when they were trying to take away those in the vehicle that was conveying Mrs Olakunri.
“There was thorough investigation that spanned through three different states of the federation, Edo, Lagos and Ondo. Cogent evidence were given by the person who was in the forest with them for seven days, particularly, the driver of the deceased who was kidnapped for seven days.”
The Counsel to the second and fourth defendants, Obafemi Bawa said he will study the judgement and possibly appeal it.
“You could see that one of the defendants was discharged by the judgement of the court court. We are going to take a critical look at it, look at areas where appeal can be formulated”, Obafemi said.