21 years behind bars, 15 years on death row

After 21 years in detention, 15 of which has been spent on death row, YEJIDE GBENGA-OGUNDARE reports that 54-year-old Morufu Bolanle, though happy that his sentence has been commuted is still worried that the remaining three years may be a mirage as he could die before then.

When Bolanle Morufu, a 54-year-old father of three, was arrested in 1996 alongside Gbolagade Alawode and arraigned before an Oyo State High Court sitting in Ibadan on charges bordering on armed robbery, he never believed that life as he knew it then was over, neither did he believe that his fate could end up being different from that of his co-defendant. Indeed, for him, he thought the trial would end in their favour, such was the faith he had in his innocence.

And he was optimistic throughout their trial before Justice Atilade-Ojo where they were charged with  armed robbery which was contrary to and punishable under Section 1(2) (a) of the Robbery and Firearms (Special Provisions) Act 1990. The duo were alleged to have, while armed with offensive weapons like gun, bottles and knockout on October 22, 1996 at Olorunsogo, Oke Itunu area of Ibadan, robbed some people.

The charge against them was that they robbed some men of money, jewellery and clothes while armed. Those they were alleged to have robbed were identified as Emmanuel Fatundimu, who was said to have lost the sum of N5, 300; Basiru Ishola, who was allegedly robbed of N12, 100; Biodun Alaga allegedly robbed of N4, 700,  Ikuesan Olajide allegedly robbed of N2500 and Benjamin Akindoyin, allegedly robbed of N1000 and items like clothes, jewellery, video and wristwatch, among other items.

The trial took its course with the prosecution calling five witnesses, but at the end of the suit, Justice Atilade-Ojo found Morufu’s claim of innocence unbelievable based on the testimonies of all the witnesses called. Out of all the people that they were alleged to have robbed, only Emmanuel Fatundimu gave evidence; he was the first prosecution witness and in his testimony before the court, he stated that about 2.30 a.m on the day of the incident, robbers called him by his alias, ‘okunogbe’ and announced their presence as robbers, adding that they later broke his door and when they came in, since they already announced themselves, he asked what they wanted and they told him they wanted money, so he gave them the N5300 that he had in his possession, but they didn’t believe he didn’t have more, so they attacked him and after beating him up and inflicting injuries on him, they ransacked his room and made away with clothes before moving to other rooms in the building for further operation.

According to him, the robbers that attacked him were three in number and their faces were not covered and after the incident, he went to the clinic for treatment and reported the matter at the police station. Further in his testimony, Fatundimu stated that he was invited by the police to come and identify his properties from goods recovered from robbers and see if he can identify any from those arrested, adding that he was able to identify the defendants and one other man among other persons lined up at the identification parade as those that came to his house.

The second prosecution witness, Ruth Fatundimu, daughter of the first witness, testified that the robbers after leaving her father’s room, gained entry into her mother’s room by breaking the door with cutlass and they asked for money, clothes and jewellery, adding that after collecting N1000 from her mother, they assaulted her and Morufu took her to another room where he demanded for sex and she only gained her freedom after showing him proof that she was menstruating though he did not leave her until he had beaten her for the disappointment .

She also identified Morufu as one of the assailants and the one who wanted to have sexual intercourse with her and was the one keeping money collected from victims, reiterating that the second robber that entered her mother’s room was not before the court after she confirmed knowing Gbolagade in the area. The third prosecution witness, Florence Samuel, a tenant in the house also confirmed that three robbers came into her apartment and asked for money, explaining that they assaulted her when she had nothing to offer them and identified Morufu and Gbolagade as two of the robbers that entered her apartment.

In his defense, Morufu denied the allegations and explained that he had from the beginning stated his innocence and he had already been taken to the scene of crime where people shouted on them and called them thieves before the police conducted the identification parade, adding that out of all suspects, he was the only one chained and efforts to conceal the chain from the witnesses that came for identification was unsuccessful and some police men who were used in the parade were identified as robbers by the witnesses and the witnesses had seen him at the police station before he was paraded for identification.

Gbolagade in his own defence stated that he lived on the same street as the victims and on October 24, 1996, he had a fight with two people in front of his father’s house over a loan that they refused to liquidate and during the disagreement, some people gathered and started calling the men thieves and they were arrested and detained before they were released because there was no case against them but a landlord in the area known as Alhaji Olatunji did not accept the verdict and he reported at the State Bureau of Intelligence Bureau where they were rearrested and he was also arrested and charged. His father, David Alawode was called as defense witness and he corroborated his son’s testimony, denying that the community arrested his son and handed him over to the police.

Though the lawyer for the defence punched holes in the case of the prosecution, arguing that the prosecution relied wholly on visual identification as evidence while there was mistaken identity, adding that the evidence was unreliable considering the circumstances the alleged offence was committed and the apprehension the witnesses were subjected to  by the robbers. He stated that the evidence should have been supported by other corroborative evidence to be credible to sustain the charge.

The defence counsel established the inconsistencies in the witnesses’ statements, especially that of Bolanle Ayilara who told the court that only Morufu raped her, but wrote in her statement that the three robbers raped her and that the identification parade was not fairly conducted as the witnesses had a chance to meet and observe the accused before they were paraded for identification and the prosecution had not proved its case.

But the prosecuting counsel, Kofo Oguntoyinbo stated that it had prove that there was robbery or series of robberies, that the robbery was an armed robbery, that the accused was one of those that took part in the robbery.

After all arguments, however, the court held that it was satisfied with the testimonies of the witnesses on the identification procedure and that it was properly conducted and held the view that the prosecution had established the identities of the accused beyond reasonable doubt and held that Morufu took part in the robbery but held doubts about the identity of Gbolagade who was only identified by prosecution witness one at the parade and the evidence that pointed out his implication in the case.

And since there were many unanswered questions, the court resolved the issue in favour of Gbolagade, the second defendant, holding that it has a manifestation of vindictive action and that the prosecution had not established any case against him and he was discharged and acquitted.

But the court held that the prosecution established its case against  Morufu and he was found guilty and convicted of armed robbery and  sentenced to death.

So after being in detention from 1996, Morufu found himself on the death row from January 23, 2002. He was, however, determined to get justice for himself and regain his freedom. And to the Court of Appeal he went to fight the decision of the lower court, so on January 22, 2002, he filed a notice of appeal at the Court of Appeal, Ibadan Judicial Division and the suit delineated CA/I/257/02 and filed against the state commenced to determine whether the judgment of the lower court was faulty or otherwise and on Monday, April 19, 2004, the trio of Justices Saka Adeyemi Ibiyeye, Victor Aimepomo Oyeleye Omage and Olufunlola Oyelola Adekeye, arrived at a decision.

Morufu had asked the court to determine whether from the records, the robber could not have been another person but the appellant or in the alternative, whether it is safe to hold that the identity of the appellant was established beyond reasonable doubt and whether in the circumstances, the failure of the prosecution to call the photographer that took snap shots of identification is fatal to the case before the court and in the alternative whether the court was obliged to consider the appellant’s defense of mistaken identity.

He argued that if the answer is in the affirmative, whether the court considered it at all and whether the failure of the judge to warn himself before convicting him is fatal to the case or whether the conviction could stand when the second accused was acquitted, reiterating that when the evidence against two or more accused persons in a criminal case is in all material respect the same, and a doubt is resolved in favor of one of the accused persons, the same doubt should be resolved in favor of the other or others. If one is discharged and acquitted, the other or others should also be discharged and acquitted.

But Justice Adekeye giving the lead judgment held that after a painstaking consideration of the two issues involved in the appeal, the court resolves them in favour of the respondent, ruling that, “there is therefore no apparent reason for this court to interfere with the findings and the decision of the lower court. The appeal therefore lacks merit and it is dismissed accordingly. Judgment of the lower court is hereby affirmed, particularly, the order that the appellant be sentenced to death.”

This ruling was supported by his brother judge, Ibiyeye J.C.A  and Omage, J.C.A, they both  affirmed the ruling of the lower court that acquitted Gbolagade and convicted Morufu.

Thus began another journey for Morufu, who wanted to prove his innocence by all means. He headed to the apex court and filed a suit delineated SC.167/2004 and the case was heard before Justices George Adesola Oguntade, Mahmud Mohammed, Christopher Mitchell Cukwuma-Eneh, Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen and Mohammad Saifullah Muntaka-Coomassie.

After all arguments, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, J.S.C. who delivered the lead judgment  and other justices of the Supreme Court were  unanimous in their decisions. They upheld the judgment of the lower courts and dismissed all the grounds for Morufu’s appeal.

 

Hope Lost, but found…

And at this point, Morufu’s fate  appeared  sealed. But  inside him, as he told Sunday Tribune, he still nursed a flicker of hope that he would still get justice and regain his freedom.

His prayers were answered eventually, a few years later when an Ibadan based non-governmental organisation, Centre for Justice Mercy and Reconciliation (CJMR), focusing on the totality of prisoners’ rights and welfare founded by Pastor Hezekiah Olujobi, got interested in his case and felt there should be a way out based on the belief that constitution has made available the Board of Prerogative of Mercy to look into such cases and has empowered the state governors to use their  prerogative power to set even the guilty criminal free.

CJMR, as a body, has fought for the freedom of a reasonable number of inmates, especially those who have been detained unlawfully and those who were sentenced to death unlawfully. Olujobi, while speaking with Sunday Tribune, on why he decided to take up Morufu’s case, said while he believes that the guilty should be duly punished, he does not favour injustice in whatever form.

“The context of the law itself is upright, sound in the hand of upright men. However wherever there is miscarriage of justice, it is not that the judge did not know their work, it is only the human factors that are at play. And to those who are the victims at the hands of the system, like Joseph and Jeremiah in the Bible, destiny is involved at times.

“Moruf Omobolanle was arrested on October 23, 1996 over the allegation of armed robbery, but I came across him in 1998 during my visit to Agodi Prison. He was a chain smoker and I always advised him to curb the bad habit. Eventually, we became friends and I became his confidant. Any time I visited the prison, I made sure we see and at times we would interact for 30 minutes. During our interaction, he confided in me that he never committed this offence. He swore in God’s name that he never saw nor handle a gun to rob anybody.

“He told me that it is true he is stubborn and he used to fight for others because he hates cheating. He also confided in me that he used to sell India hemp. Truly, he was cutting down his bad habit of smoking while in the prison. He was a devoted Muslim in the prison, but I never opened my mouth to preach Jesus Christ to him. For about a month I did not visit prison. During my next visit, I saw him in the chapel and he told me he has given his life to Christ. I asked him how come? Who preached to you? He said ‘nobody preached to me. I just made up my mind to follow Jesus’, he said further ‘moreover, I have been watching you since all these days, I thought you would preach Jesus to me but I can see that you picked interest in me not because you want to convert me and moreover I have watched your service in this yard; you rendered services to people not based on their religion and I admire your lifestyle’.

“I was dazed. I just didn’t know what to say. Now, he said ‘but I have not dropped the smoking completely’. Then I said to him that I know that it is not easy to drop it. I was once in your shoe. So, we became better friends and I recommended him to a lawyer, Prince Adediran Adeyemo, who handled his case free of charge like others.

“For more than two years, I’m always in court to monitor his trial till the end. Going by the trial, one may say the witnesses have failed by the evaluation of the evidence given in court, but it was a rude shock that he can be convicted while the second accused was discharged and acquitted,” Olujobi explained.

 

Total Amnesty…

Asked how he managed to get the sentence reduced even after  the Supreme Court judgment, Olujobi said they all became more determined after that judgment.

“Over the years, we have been pleading for his amnesty, but on October, 2011, his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by His Excellency, Senator Isiaka Ajimobi. In 2016 his case was among the cases we recommended for total amnesty but I did not know the reason why he was not released. My strong conviction of innocence in the case of Moruf Omobolanle is that he was a victim of wrongful conviction and he was innocent of the crime he has been held for 21 years.

“Sometimes the Governor, the Attorney-General even the court may be misinformed about a particular person. What you need to do is to embark on research and come out to show the whole world why he should not be there. The court judgment and the law report become public property. They are open for anybody to read and react. This is what I have done in this case. As a concerned citizen, I have read through the judgments of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal and the said judgment of the High Court. I have read it over and over; it is like a shallow grave where you can see the head and the leg of a victim. I am so sorry to say, the judgment of the Supreme Court was the shortest judgment I ever read: just only eight pages. Even the judgments are on your palm right now, what you need to do is to click on the internet and type Moruf Omobolanle Vs the State, except the judgment of the High Court that you will not find on the internet.”

According to him, what made Morufu’s case peculiar was that the  police arrested him shortly after his return from prison on drugs-related allegation, which landed him three years behind bars.  The belief was that his ordeal started after the fight he had with a woman who unknown to him was the wife of a policeman.

“He was taken to the police station on the day of the fight. But the  matter was settled and he was released. The third day, police and N.D.L.E.A operatives came to where he was selling drug but fortunately for him, nothing was found in his possession. He was released for want of evidence after spending  three years and five months in Kirikiri medium security prisons, Apapa, Lagos.

“After his release, because he was a constant target of policemen, he made up his mind never to return to India hemp business and  became  a member of N.U.R.T.W. He was arrested on  23rd October, 1996  inside  beer parlour four months after his release from Kirikiri and arraigned for identification parade on allegation of armed robbery,” Olujobi narrated, reechoing his belief in Morufu’s innocence, adding that the convict’s children and aged mother have been looking forward to the day he would be freed.

Though the efforts of Olujobi and his NGO have paid off , as Governor Abiola Ajimobi has commuted his sentence to jail term with him now having three more years to spend behind bars, Olujobi wants a speedy and happy ending to the Morufu saga. He is pleading with Governor Ajimobi to grant him total amnesty. According to him,  having spent that number of years, Morufu does not deserve to spend one more day behind bars.

But  Morufu is still in prison, waiting on God for the final miracle.