Osun State governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke, has described as falsehood an insinuation that his government was planning to pardon convicted Dr Rahman Adedoyin.
He said this in reaction to the rumour on social media that he was plotting to subvert the judgment of death sentence passed on Adedoyin, the proprietor of Oduduwa University, Ile-Ife.
The governor affirmed that there is no such plan to pardon, Adedoyin who was sentenced to death by hanging over the death of a MBA student of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Mr Timothy Adegoke.
Adegoke was murdered in Hilton Hotel, Ile-Ife, owned by Adedoyin, where he lodged in late 2021 and his corpse was moved away from the hotel and hurriedly buried in the vicinity.
The hotelier and some of his staff were subsequently arrested and arraigned in court.
Adedoyin was found culpable of the murder of the deceased and was, on 30 May, 2023, sentenced to death by the Osun State Chief Judge, Justice Oyebola Ojo.
Governor Adeleke, reacting to the rumour of a possible state pardon for Adedoyin, stated in a release by his spokesperson, Mallam Olawale Rasheed, that he has no relationship whatsoever with the convict.
He declared that his administration has never and will never intervene in the judicial process and labelled those behind the fake news as public enemies.
“Those who concorted the fake news are evil-minded political operatives who are merely grasping at straws in their desperation to blackmail the state governor.
“Governor Adeleke has not and will never contemplate exercising the prerogative of mercy or whatever the report calls it on a matter under adjudication which has generated deep interest among local and global communities.
“It is important to clarify that neither the state governor, nor his political party has any hidden plot on the said murder case other than a public interest agenda.
“The only agenda of the Osun State government, under Governor Adeleke, is to see that culprits in the dastardly act face the full wrath of the law.
“That explains why no Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) member is involved as counsel for any of the convicted individuals.
“And that explains why the state judiciary enjoys and exercises its full independence in the hearing and jugdment of the case.
“It is uncharitable for political enemies and their paid agents to attempt any linkage between the convicted businessman and the state governor.
“We affirm with all sense of responsibility that Governor Adeleke is not at any material time a friend or partner of the owner of Oduduwa University.
“The governor did not interfere, intervene or manifest any untoward agenda in the arraignment, hearing and sentencing of the accused.
“We therefore urged the members of the public to ignore the repeated rumour of state pardon by Governor Adeleke for the convict.
“Members of the public should ignore the watery push to link service records of a state judicial official to a popular verdict on the gruesome murder of a postgraduate student.
“Those peddling such lies are agents of darkness acting on behalf of disgruntled, dark political elements. They are better ignored,” it was stated in the release.
The state government expressed its appreciation to people who have put up spirited defense for the governor “in the face of this orchestrated falsehood.
“The undiluted truth is that neither the state government, nor the state governor is interested in the subversion of the wheel of justice,” it was added in the release.
