Gang Leader Oriyomi, to die by hanging

Notorious Lagos gang leader and suspected serial killer, Adigun Oriyomi, has been sentenced to death by hanging by the Lagos State High Court sitting in Igbosere.

Oriyomi was sentenced to death by Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo, after he was arraigned on multiple counts of murder.

The court convicted him of killing his best friend, Femi Adekeye, in front of his four-year-old daughter.

PUNCH Metro had followed Oriyomi’s case since 2013 when he was arrested and released in controversial circumstances.

The convict had been arrested for murder on September 9, 2013, and arraigned before the Ebute-Meta Magistrate’s Court where he confessed to being a member of the Black Axe Confraternity and owned up to four other murders between 2010 and 2013.

He was remanded in prison pending the advice of the Directorate of Public Prosecutions, but was released under controversial circumstances, after which he jumped bail.'

On January 29, 2014, it was reported that the suspect led gunmen to Amodu Street, Mushin, where they killed a pregnant woman, Musili Bello, her 12-year-old daughter, Suliat, and a motorcycle rider, Baba Monday.

On February 10, 2014, the police said the suspect also led a gang to Ewenla Street, Mushin, and killed another woman, 38-year-old Agbabiaka, her 4-month-old baby, Aishat, and another woman, Adeboye.

It was reported in March 2014, that the suspect killed his best friend, Adekeye, in front of his four-year-old daughter on February 12, 2014, at the deceased’s residence on Isa Street in Aboru, in the Ipaja area of Lagos State.

In April 2014, the police said the suspect again led a suspected team of cultists to Akala Street, Mushin, and killed one 26-year-old Azeez.

A team of Investigating Police Officers from the State Department of Criminal Investigation, Yaba, had told a Yaba Magistrate’s Court that Oriyomi, and others confessed to the crimes, while witnesses would testify in court.

PUNCH Metro learnt that Oriyomi escaped all the murder charges, except for that of his best friend whom he killed in front of the daughter.

A police source said, 

“The testimony of the little girl was what saved the case.

“After we could not establish the other murder charges due to absence of strong evidences, the small girl gave an eloquent testimony of how her father was killed in her presence. The judge tried to sway her by asking if the police prosecutor taught her what to say.

“She said yes. The judge asked what she was taught to say. She said, ‘She said (the prosecutor) I should speak the truth.’

“She narrated how Adigun (Oriyomi) entered their room with a ‘big gun’ and her father begged him to kill only him and spare the lives of his children. She told the court that immediately he shot her dad dead, she quickly carried her baby sister and ran away from the room.”

The judge, after listening to the five prosecution witnesses, who also included the deceased’s wife, brought the case to a close on Monday.