By Victor Akinkuolie, Ado-Ekiti

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Every human being on earth has a dream of becoming something in life, but the dream depends on how an individual works towards achieving the dream.

This is not the case of an Ekiti Prince, Omoniyi Ademola, a notable royal family member from Odo-Oro Ekiti, an agrarian community of about ten kilometers to Ikole-Ekiti, the administrative headquarters of Ikole local government area of Ekiti State.

Prince Ademola claimed to have had a dream of becoming a traditional ruler right from his childhood, but was looking for a way in which the dream could be achieved.

Prince Ademola, a graduate of Electrical Electronics in one of the Polytechnics in Osun State on 20th of August, 2018, in a bid to achieve his inordinate ambition had stabbed Oba Gbadebo Ogunsakin, the Onise of Odo-Oro to death in the presence of his family, chiefs and palace officials.

Immediately after stabbing the monarch to death with a knife, he had fled the community apparently to evade arrest prompting a manhunt for him before he was arrested in Ajao market, Awedele area of Ado-Ekiti.

The Prince, while been paraded by the police, at the Ekiti State Police Command, claimed to have been duly nominated by members of the royal family and the kingmakers before the late (Oba) Gbadebo Ogunsakin came from Lagos and was installed as the traditional ruler of the town.

According to him, the dream of becoming a monarch which he claimed to have dreamed about for years, was about becoming a reality in 2017 when the throne was eventually declared vacant after the death of the last occupant of the throne.

Prince Ademola who looks mentally unstable boldly spoke English language, “shortly after the throne became vacant in 2017, kingmakers in the town brought the crown to my house and they displayed everything which showed that i am the next traditional ruler of the town.

“Similarly, several women and wives from the royal  family also moved to the palace and proclaimed that the Kabiyesi was dead. It is not that I wanted to take over. I was the one that was nominated as the next monach of the town,” he said.

The Odo-Oro Prince was a notable member of one of the prominent royal families in the town. Before the unfortunate incident, he was said to be a friend of the palace.

A source from the palace who craved anonymity said “on the fateful day, we were at the palace for Onise-in-Council weekly meeting, around 7: a.m. Before the commencement of the meeting, Prince Ademola walked into the palace majestically and sat on Kabiyesi’s seat but the Chiefs frowned at his action and walked him out of the palace.

“Not knowing that Ademola had come back into the palace to lay ambush, after the meeting, the  late monarch in company of his male clerk were trekking back to the main palace, Ademola came out of his hiding and attacked the Kabiyesi with a knife on the road and stabbed him to death, before that day he has been parading himself as the king of the town, he concluded.

At the arraignment at an Ekiti State High Court, sitting in Ado-Ekiti, Prince Ademola was arraigned on a one count charge of murder, the State Counsel, Mr Adegboyega Morakinyo, called five witnesses to prove his case beyond reasonable doubt.

He equally tendered a medical report, statements of the convict, knife and rope among others as exhibits while the convict spoke in his own defence through his counsel, Tope Salami and called no witness.

In his judgment, Justice Olukayode Ogundana dispelled the notion that the defendant is insane, and drclared “consequently, “the defendant, Omoniyi Ademola  is hereby sentenced to death and shall be hanged until he breathes his last. May the good Lord have mercy upon his soul.”

Speaking on the judgement, Mr Mike Olowoselu, an immediate brother to the late monarch said, “Many things proved that the man is not mad as widely reported in some online media, when the case was going on a medical report was obtained that showed that he has no sign of mental disease.

“A mad man cannot kill and be running away to escape. He ran to Ado-Ekiti to where his people live, so I don’t believe he is mad.

“He narrated his story while the case is going on in the court,  he knows all the schools he passed through and when he graduated, and he didn’t mix things up.

“When the police arrested him, he repeated what he said a day before, so a mad man cannot coordinate things the way he coordinated things.”

Similarly, an eldest son of the late traditional ruler, Prince Adetoye Ogunsakin, described the judgement as a will of God, “the law has taken its course, the family had decided to wait for the judgement of the court.

“Whatever that has happened we want to credit it to the will of God. Our father can now rest in peace, we wouldn’t want to be too quick to jump into conclusions that some people are interested in the position.”