This is the other side of the story of Elijah Oyebode, a taxi driver who operates on the Ikirun/Akure route. On the night of December 22, 2016, he picked up a young woman named Rofiat Damilola Adebisi, a 400-level student at Osun State University, who was stranded in Ikirun and needed a ride to Oshogbo. Tragically, he was sentenced to death on April 2, 2020, alongside a customer who had chartered him on December 28, 2016 just because his name was stored on the phone of the Taxi driver. Both men now languish in prison, crying out for justice and proclaiming their innocence. They have appealed the judgment, but their appeal has not been heard since 2020.
Like Bartimaeus in the Bible, who cried out for mercy, we cannot ignore their pleas. When someone persistently claims innocence, it is crucial to listen to their story. This is the mission of the Centre for Justice, Mercy, and Reconciliation (CJMR); to shed light on the truth hidden in the shadows of injustice.
In most cases, it’s not just their stories that matter, but the truth hidden in the causes of our investigation that truly matters.
Today, we present the untold story of a taxi driver for your consideration. This account aims to highlight the reality of injustice and to call attention to the urgent need for intervention from the government and the public. We invite anyone with contrary or useful information to come forward and challenge the narrative that has led to this wrongful conviction.
We have obtained the court records for review and evaluation, and we find no reason why they should remain imprisoned for another 24 hours.
My name is Elijah Oyebode, and I am a taxi driver from Iragbiji, Osun State. I drive a car that belongs to my employer, Mr. Omotayo, who is a mechanic. On December 28, 2016, Mr. Omotayo introduced me to a man named Jelili Raji, who chartered my car that day to the Eleweran police station in Abeokuta.
On the night of December 22, 2016, at about 9 pm. I picked up a female passenger at the junction of Ipetu Jesha, who was traveling to Oshogbo. I informed her that I would be stopping in Ikirun. I had three passengers in total: one in the front seat and two in the back. We left Akure around 8 PM and arrived in Ikirun around 11 PM.
After all the passengers alighted, the lady moved to the front seat. I attempted to help her find another vehicle heading to Oshogbo from Ilorin, but after nearly an hour of waiting without success, she asked if she could stay at my place until the following morning. I jokingly responded, “What would I tell my wife?” even though I am a bachelor. She assured me that she would explain to my wife.
We then drove to my one-bedroom apartment in Iragbiji. When we arrived, it was late, and everyone else in the building had already gone to bed. My apartment is upstairs, and the bathroom is located downstairs in the backyard. I went downstairs to take a bath, and when I returned to my room, I found the lady lifeless on my bed. I was in shock and panic; it felt surreal. Unsure of what to do, I decided to move her body to the roadside, carrying her alone in my car and leaving her with her belongings.
The following day, while washing my car, I discovered her phone had been left behind. I gave the phone to my friend Yusuf Ajibade, who later sold it to someone else.
Arrest and Investigation
On January 8, 2017, I was arrested by the police after they traced the deceased’s phone to Yusuf Ajibade, who led the police to my location. During my arrest, the Department of State Services (DSS) examined my phone and scrutinized all my contacts, including those I had called since December 22. Many of these individuals were released after paying bribes, except for Jelili Raji and Yusuf Ajibade.
The police also arrested several men who were listed as contacts in the deceased’s phone, demanding money from them as well.
The police fabricated details about the incident, claiming that I and Yusuf Ajibade, the second accused, had engaged in sexual intercourse with the lady using charms, which led to her death. They suggested that Jelili Raji had given me the charm because I had stored his name in my phone as “Ifa,” a shortened version of his name, Ifashola. This led the police to develop a theory of ritual killing involving sexual intercourse, which contradicted the medical report.
I want to clarify that I did not have any sexual contact with the lady, nor did I even recognize her well since she sat in the back of my car during the ride. A medical report would have confirmed the truth if it were accurate that I had sexual relations with her.
It is possible that the lady may have died in my car on the way to Oshogbo, but it was less than 30 or 40 minutes after we arrived at my apartment that she passed away. Unfortunately, the police twisted the narrative against me, and on April 2, 2020, the judge sentenced both me and Jelili Raji to death, while Yusuf Ajibade received a two-year sentence as the second accused in this case.
I am sharing this account to present the truth of what happened. I swear by the Almighty God, I did not kill the lady; she died of natural causes.
Contrary to this story, here is the police’s twisted version of events.
The Evidence of PW1:
According to PW1, Sgt. Adeyeye Simon, attached to the Homicide Section of the State CID, Oshogbo, who testified and was sworn in by the Holy Bible on March 23, 2019: “I can see the three accused. I know the three of them. With respect to the case of murder involving one Damilola Rofiyat Adebisi, a student of Osun State University, Ipetu Ijesha campus, on December 22 and 23, 2016, I know the accused. The three accused were arrested and referred for investigation, in which I recorded the statement of the first accused in Yoruba language. It was later translated into English. The first accused stated that he is a commercial driver plying the Ikirun/Owena/Akure road. He traveled on that fateful day with passengers on board. When he got to Owena, he received a phone call from the second accused, asking him to meet him at a particular junction at Ipetu Ijesha. When he got to that junction, the second accused was there with a lady. The second accused called him aside and asked him to take him and the lady to Iragbiji, instructing him not to carry any passengers with them. As he was driving, the second accused and the lady were discussing in the back of the vehicle. They also ordered him not to move fast but to move slowly while heading to Iragbiji. He took the lady to the house of the first accused, where they had sexual intercourse. Thereafter, the second accused came outside to meet the first accused and asked whether he also had an interest in having sexual intercourse with the lady, which he also agreed to. The first accused then entered the room and had sexual intercourse with the lady. Afterward, he took the second accused and the lady to the house of the third accused, based on the instruction of the third accused. When they got there, they paid him and asked him to go. The first accused asked about the luggage of the lady in the boot of the vehicle, but the second accused asked the first accused to go away with it. It was late in the evening while enjoying himself at a hotel when he received another phone call from the second accused, directing him to meet him at the house of the third accused. It was there he was informed that the girl he brought there together with the two accused had died. He was instructed to keep it a secret and that they would use his vehicle to dispose of the body of the deceased in the bush, and he accepted. When they entered the room of the third accused, where he used to attend to clients, he being an herbalist, he saw that there were injuries from biting on the fingers of the lady and some marks of injury on the thigh of the lady.
Both the third accused and the second accused went with him, and together they dropped the body of the deceased in the bush along Egbeda Road, Iragbiji. Out of the items left behind in the car by the lady, the first accused only took a DVD and threw away the rest of the items into the bush at Oke Agunla area, Iragbiji. Thereafter, they returned to the house of the third accused, and the third accused then paid for his services.
**Here is the evidence of PW3, another police officer contradicting the evidence of PW1.**
**What was the evidence of PW3?**
PW3: Elects to affirm: I am Olatomiwa Alade, DSP. I work with the Department of State Services, Osun State Command. I know the three accused in the dock. On December 26, 2016, a report was lodged at the Command headquarters of the DSS, Osun State, that a student of Osun State University, Ipetu Ijesha campus, Rofiyat Damilola Adebisi, had been missing since December 22, 2016. Subsequently, the Command constituted a five-member investigation team, of which I am a member. My involvement was based on my training as a communication intelligence expert in Tel Aviv, Israel, and my role in the Investigation Department.
During the report, it was mentioned that the lady went incommunicado after leaving the university campus. This led the Command to request the call data records of the missing person’s phone. Upon receipt of the data, I analyzed it, and an iPhone was traced to one Kolapo Quadri, a resident of Ikirun town. Kolapo Quadri was invited to the Command to explain how he came into possession of the phone. He mentioned that one of his friends, Yusuff Ajibade, sold the phone to him. Yusuff Ajibade is one of the accused persons. Yusuff Ajibade was arrested by the operatives of the Command on January 8, 2017, and he volunteered a statement that the phone was acquired through Elijah Oyebode, the first accused person. Elijah Oyebode stated in writing that the white iPhone actually belonged to the deceased, Damilola Rofiyat Adebisi. Furthermore, Elijah Oyebode also stated that he took Rofiyat Adebisi to his house after attempting to entice her romantically. He claimed that he and Rofiyat Adebisi had intercourse, after which she passed away while he went to the bathroom. However, in an earlier statement, Elijah Oyebode claimed that after he picked Rofiyat up as a passenger along the Ipetu Ijesha highway, he hypnotized her with a fetish material, causing her to lose touch with her surroundings. He then led her in an unconscious state to one Jelili Raji, also known as Ifa, for ritual purposes. That was our information.
**COMMENTS:** The question that needs to be answered is: Did the deceased die in Jelili Raji’s house? Being an herbalist, was any part of the body removed from the deceased? We need to consult the medical report. The evidence of PW3, the DSS officer, appears to be more reliable than that of the police officers, PW1 and PW2. The evidence from the DSS officer shows that Yusuff Ajibade was never aware of Rofiat’s death; he did not know her. It was established that Elijah Oyebode only gave the second accused the phone to sell. This indicates that the statements of the police officers, PW1 and PW2, are fictional, based on imagination, and malicious. Such evidence, in my humble opinion, should not keep a man in the gallows for even 24 hours.
**Here is the evidence of the medical report.**
**PW5:** I now remember the incident very well. It was on December 27 when I was called to perform an autopsy on a lady. She was brought to the hospital by her relatives. I examined the corpse and found a young lady who was dead, well-fed, not pale or jaundiced (anicteric), and well-hydrated. There were bruises on the right thigh and the right part of the neck. I also examined her internal organs, and all were found to be normal. From the examination, we discovered that the lady suffered from strangulation, which led to an obstruction of blood flow to the brain, resulting in cardiac arrest.
**COMMENT:** It is significant to observe that the medical doctor who examined the body in detail did not indicate that any part of the body or organ of the deceased had been removed or tampered with, as would be expected in cases involving an herbalist. The absence of a clear motive supports this point. Additionally, the medical report did not indicate that any semen was found on her body during the autopsy. The report states that the lady suffered from strangulation and cardiac arrest—who strangled her, and for what purpose?
Upon re-examining this medical report, I have doubts. The DSS report indicates that the lady died in the room of the taxi driver on the night of December 22/23, yet this doctor stated, “I examined the corpse. I found a young lady who was dead, well-fed, not pale or jaundiced, and well-hydrated.” Is it possible for a dead body brought to the hospital to still maintain the condition of being “well-hydrated after 5 days”?
The report mentions, “There were bruises on the right thigh and the right part of the neck.” Who inflicted those bruises? Was it the third accused or the first accused? What is the link between the actions of the first and third accused and the deceased? What must be established is the connection between the first accused (or his actions) and the death of the deceased. In the absence of clear and unequivocal evidence that (1) the deceased died directly from an assault by the accused, or (2) that the accused was armed with any sharp instrument during the assault, it becomes necessary to have medical evidence on the cause of death to address the issue raised by the existence of “a long deep cut” on the deceased’s right thigh and a cut on the neck. Until these issues are resolved, we firmly believe that it would be very unsafe to convict for murder based solely on the circumstantial evidence available. The Romans had a maxim: it is better for a guilty person to go unpunished than for an innocent one to be condemned.
An evaluation of the evidence from PW1, PW2, PW3, PW4, and PW5 shows that there were no direct eyewitnesses to the death of the deceased. No charm was recovered from the third accused, Jelili Raji, and presented before the court as evidence related to the cause of death. The medical report did not indicate that the deceased died as a result of sexual intercourse with the first accused, Elijah Oyebode. All the evidence provided by PW1, PW2, PW3, PW4, and PW5 appears to be a figment of imagination.
When you hear about the injustice done against someone, what concrete steps do you take to address the injustice?
When confronted with stories of injustice, it is crucial to listen, investigate, and advocate for those who may not have a voice. The pursuit of truth and justice should be a collective responsibility, and this case serves as a poignant example of the need for vigilance in the face of potential miscarriages of justice.
We tell the story with integrity. We carry out thorough investigations to ensure that justice is served.
