Fulani Warlord: Iskilu Wakili, others charged with murder, kidnapping, remanded in prison custody

An Iyaganku Chief Magistrates’ Court sitting in Ibadan, Oyo State, on Tuesday, ordered that alleged notorious Fulani warlord in Ibarapaland, Abdullahi Wakili, 70, be remanded in a correctional facility.

The police charged Wakili alongside his sons Abu, 45; and Samaila, 27; as well as Aliyu Manu, 20; with six counts bordering on conspiracy, murder, kidnapping and armed robbery.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria, the Chief Magistrate, Emmanuel Idowu, who did not take the plea of the suspects for want of jurisdiction, remanded them in Abolongo Correctional facility in Oyo State.

Idowu ordered the police to return the case file to the Oyo State Directorate of Public Prosecution.

He adjourned the matter until May 17, for mention.

The PUNCH had earlier reported that Wakili and his accomplices were arrested by men of the Oodua Peoples Congress in Oyo State.

Before Wakili’s arrest, farmers and residents of Ayete, Kajola, and neighbouring villages in Ibarapaland lived in perpetual fear of Wakili who was accused of displacing them from their farms, kidnapping their rich men, and raping their women.

A legal practitioner, Oritsuwa Uwawa, appeared for all the suspects.

Earlier, the prosecution counsel, ASP Adewale Amos, told the court that Wakili, Abu, Samaila, and Manu on October 20, 2015, conspired to kill 32-year-old Akinwale Akande.

Amos also said that on August 15, 2020, about 4pm in Idi–Emi, Oyo State, Wakili, and the others kidnapped a woman.

The police claimed that the suspects while armed with cutlasses and axes robbed her of N100, 000.

The offence, he said, contravened the provisions of sections 316, 324 and punishable under Section 319 of the Criminal Code of Oyo State 2000.

He said the offence also contravened the provisions of sections 3, 6, and punishable under section 4 (2) of the Kidnapping (Prohibition ) Law 2016 and Section 6b of the Robbery and Firearms (Special Provisions) Act .Cap RII, Vol.14, Laws of Federation of Nigeria 2004 and section (2) (a) (b) of the Robbery and Firearms (Special Provisions). (The PUNCH)