Photo credit: Punch Newspaper
In the eighties, specifically 1983, when public buildings were getting burnt by insiders turned arsonists, Ray Ekpu, the celebrated journalist predicted that the NET building would be one of the next to be burnt.
Presto!
The building was burnt.
That’s no news. The news is the fact that Ekpu was arrested. That too is no news.
The news is that Ray Ekpu was arraigned for murder!
Now, fast forward to the case of Timothy Adegoke, a master’s student who met an untimely death at the Hilton Hotel. He had gone to Ife to seat for examinations.
The owner of the hotel was said to have driven himself to court in an SUV.
The question people should ask is whether he has been granted bail.
By the way, what was he arraigned for?
The last I read was that he was arraigned for attempted felony, conspiracy, tampering with Adegoke’s corpse, etc.
I wouldn’t think any of these charges carries the maximum penalty.
I also think charging him with these instead of murder is a leeway for him to regain freedom. I would have thought if he had been charged with murder, the onus would have been on him to prove he wasn’t culpable.
But then, you know how things go in Nigeria.
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