The leader of the Esuleke masqueraders, Chief Kayode Idowu on Friday collapsed on his way to the Osun State Magistrate court at Oke-fia where he and his disciples were expected to face a murder charge.
Chief Esuleke, was said to have slumped on Friday morning while going to the court for arraignment.
The incident, we reliably learnt, happened around 10:15 am, after which he was rushed to an undisclosed hospital in Osogbo.
Findings showed that he was receiving treatment till on Friday, 8 pm (Nigerian time).
Failure to appear before the Magistrate court also affected the charges against Imam Kazeem Yusuf and three members of the Muslim Organisation, who are also standing trial for another offense.
Imam Yusuf, who led the Special Prayer for the Nation when the masquerade attacked the congregation on Sunday, was also detained by the police on Wednesday, alongside other members namely; Salawudeen Jamiu, Alarape Sulaimon, and Saheed Akewi.
Confirming the story, the State Police spokesperson, Yemisi Opalola said that the case has been put on hold pending the time the arrowhead of the masquerade is discharged from the hospital.
According to her, “Chief Esuleke collapsed on his way to court and he is still even in the hospital till now (Friday night). Hence, there is no way he can be taken to court in that condition since he is very important to the case.
“His followers cannot be charged without him since he is their leader. Hence, they are still in police custody. They will not get bail since it’s a murder case. They will be re-arraigned whenever Chief Esuleke is fine.
“As for the Imam and his members, they have been released on bail to reliable sureties and they will be provided when the case begins.
“Both of them (masquerade and Muslim Organisation) have been arrested but for different offenses. For the Masquerade, it is murder, but in the Muslim’s case, it is assault because they allegedly injured some of the followers of the masquerade.”
Chief Esuleke, allegedly led the masquerade worshippers that attacked an Islamic group, Kamorudeen Society of Nigeria in Osogbo, the State capital.
The police have also arrested the son of Chief Fayemi Esuleke, Ifashola and the masquerades for allegedly attacking Muslims at their worship centre in Osogbo on Sunday.
Also arrested were the Imam of Kamorudeen Central Mosque and three other Muslims; Kazeem Yunus, Alarape Sulaimon and Saheed Akewi.
Chief Esuleke and his disciples had on Sunday attacked Muslim worshippers at Qamarudeen Central Mosque, leading to the death of, Alhaji Moshood Salawudeen while 14 others sustained injuries.
The counsel to the Islamic group insisted that the group will not allow the case to be swept under the carpet under whatever guise.
The lawyer said this in an interview at the State High Court in Osogbo on Friday.
According to the lawyers, the suspects from both sides were supposed to be arraigned in court on Friday.
He said, “Some arrests were made, initially the prime suspect, in the person of Esuleke and some others have been arrested. So 24 hours ago, the Imam who is our client was arrested too with respect to the complaint on the side of the masquerades that they had two victims who were assaulted. So it was in respect of that that the Imam was now being held in custody.
“We went to the police station this morning to apply for bail of the Imam because he was accused of assault which is bailable but police said, an arraigmnet is ongoing to bring them to court both our client and Esuleke.
“We were already in court before we learnt that the prime suspect, Esuleke, slumped on his way to court and has been taken to the hospital.
“We will explore all means, all means, within the legal framework that is available for us to ensure that justice is done in this case. We are talking of the loss of life, we are talking about some other people in the hospital critically injured. We don’t pray for the loss of another life this time around, but those in the hospital are not even stabilized yet.”
However, while reacting to the situation, Dr Oluseyi Atanda, the President of the traditional worshippers in the State, said he would not be surprised to hear that Chief Esuleke slumped because the chief is over 80 years of age and that his health is on the fringe.
“Since the matter has become a police matter, we all have to wait patiently and hear from the lawyers and the police what the action is because it was not until late last night that we also heard that both parties would be arraigned in court today and we are also still waiting to see, so we will still wait and talk to the lawyers to share what the next line of action will be.
“Baba’s health is a bit on the fringe because he is over 80 years of age and I am also aware that baba had surgery less than 2 months ago, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Baba has been in detention for over 72 hours and something goes otherwise,” he said.
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