Ibadan Stampede: Ooni’s ex-Queen, Naomi Silekunola, Hazmat Oriyomi, Others Granted Bail

A former wife of Ooni of Ife, Naomi Silekunola, Oriyomi Hamzat, the CEO, Agidigbo Radio FM, Oriyomi Hamzat, and Abdullahi Fasasi, the school principal of Islamic High School, who are being prosecuted for murder and manslaughter by the Oyo estate Government, have been granted N10 million bail each.

They were granted bail by an Oyo State High Court in Ibadan. Butt he court directed that the defendants must submit their international passports and must not grant any press interview on print or on social media during the course of the trial.

The three defendants are being prosecuted for the deaths of 35 children during a stampede at a Christmas funfair programme on Dec. 18, 2024, at Islamic High School, Orita Basorun, Ibadan.

The defendants were arraigned before an Iyaganku Magistrates’ Court on December 24, 2024, on a four-count charge bordering on conspiracy, murder, manslaughter and negligence.

They were subsequently remanded at the Agodi Correctional Centre in the Oyo State capital.

Counsel to the defendants wasted no time in filing applications for their bail at the state High Court.

Delivery ruling on the bail application, on Monday, Justice Kamorudeen Olawoyin admitted the ex-queen and her co-defendants to bail in the sum of N10 million each with two reliable sureties.

Justice Olawoyin held that the Magistrate Court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case due to the murder charge contained in the charge sheet.

He also held that there was no place for holding charge in the constitution and keeping them in custody would infringe on their rights.

The Judge also held that the incident of the stampede was not a premeditated act and, therefore, the defendants were entitled to bail.