The Court of Appeal in Lagos has kept the punishment for Mutiu Ogundare, the former Baale of Shangisha in Magodo, for pretending to be kidnapped.
Remember, back on September 27, 2022, Justice Hakeem Oshodi from Lagos State High Court in Ikeja gave Ogundare a 15-year prison sentence.
Ogundare didn’t like this decision and took his case to a higher court to try and change the result.
A group of three judges from the higher court looked at the case. They all agreed to keep the decision of the lower court for the first two charges but changed the third one.
The main judge, Justice Peter Bassi, said Ogundare’s appeal was a bit successful and shortened his prison time to 12 years.
The court decided, “The Accused will spend 10 years in prison for the first charge and 2 years for the second charge.”
For the third charge about lying to get a kidnapped person released, the court canceled the punishment.
The other judges, Justice Bayero and Folashade Ojo, agreed with the main judge’s decision.
Ogundare was on trial along with his wife, Abolanle, and brother, Opeyemi Mohammed.
They were charged with three crimes: planning together to break the law, disturbing the peace, and pretending to be kidnapped by the Lagos State government.
On June 15, 2022, Justice Oshodi found Ogundare and his brother Opeyemi guilty of planning together and fake kidnapping.
However, the court said Ogundare’s wife, Abolanle, had no connection to the crimes and let her go free.