A 34-year-old bricklayer in Ondo State, Ojo Ajisafe, has faulted the decision of the Ondo State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Olukayode Ajulo, to discontinue the trial of an accused person, Fred Akinnuoye, popularly known as Adaja.
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According to PUNCH, Akinnuoye was standing trial at a State High Court in Akure, the state capital, for allegedly attempting to kill Ajisafe over a land dispute.
Ajisafe had accused Akinnuoye and four others of attacking him with machetes on the disputed land located at Igba in Ondo East Local Government Area.
He described the Attorney General’s decision as “a miscarriage of justice and a deliberate attempt to protect a suspect from prosecution.”
The Attorney General, in a statement issued on October 28 by the Head of the Information and Media Unit at the Ministry of Justice, Olaoluwa Meshack, announced that the state had entered a nolle prosequi to end the criminal case against Akinnuoye, who had been remanded at the Olokuta Correctional Centre.
According to the statement, the decision was formally conveyed in a letter to the Registrar of the Chief Magistrate’s Court, bringing an end to the case.
The Attorney General also accused Ajisafe of land grabbing and fabricating the assault claim to frame Akinnuoye.
According to Ajulo, Ajisafe had previously been arrested and charged to court for allegedly assaulting Akinnuoye.
“In exercising his constitutional power under Section 211 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), Dr. Ajulo reviewed the case and found the prosecution to be baseless and unjustified, prompting the issuance of the nolle prosequi to terminate the proceedings,” the statement read.
However, the decision contradicted an earlier legal advice from the ministry’s Department of Public Prosecution, which had, in a letter dated September 17, 2025, recommended Akinnuoye’s prosecution for attempted murder, assault, and criminal conspiracy.
The letter, a copy of which was seen by our correspondent, linked Akinnuoye to the alleged attack on Ajisafe.
It read in part: “Page B1 (Akinnuoye) should be charged for conspiracy to commit an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 516 of the Criminal Code; assault occasioning harm, contrary to and punishable under Section 355 of the Criminal Code; and attempt to commit murder, contrary to and punishable under Section 320 of the Criminal Code, Cap 37, Vol. 1, Laws of Ondo State of Nigeria, 2006.”
Reacting to the withdrawal of the case, Ajisafe described the Attorney General’s decision to discontinue the case as “hasty, biased, and based on a distorted account of the facts.”
He dismissed the land-grabbing allegation, calling it “a smear campaign orchestrated to discredit him and justify an unjust decision.”
Ajisafe insisted that the disputed land was bequeathed to him by his late father, Michael Ajisafe.
He explained that his father, in 2016, had transferred a “power of attorney” to Akinnuoye to help manage the land, which spanned over 6,000 acres.
The power of attorney document seen by our correspondent read in part: “The donor (Ajisafe), by this power of attorney, vests, confers, authorises, mandates, grants, and transfers express and implied powers and rights/privileges on the donee (Akinnuoye) to alienate, sell, and discuss with innocent encroachers and trespassers who have been misled by fraudulent land grabbers and land speculators.”
Ajisafe said, “In 2016, Akinnuoye, who was my father’s agent, got a power of attorney from my father to manage the land because my father had a stroke and could no longer do so properly.
“I was working as a bricklayer in Imo State when my father called me to serve as a witness during the signing of the power of attorney. In 2017, after my father’s death, Akinnuoye adopted my family name, claimed to be my father’s son, and started selling the land.
“I informed my lawyer, and we moved to reclaim the land from him. We have four separate court judgments affirming my father as the rightful owner of the land.
“We also got documents, including his (Akinnuoye’s) primary and secondary school certificates, to discredit his claim. We reported the case to the police. He was arrested but later released, and he jumped bail. Since then, he has been victimising and harassing me and my family.”
Narrating how he was allegedly attacked, Ajisafe said, “On February 14, 2025, Akinnuoye led four others to attack me and my wife while we were inspecting the land. They came on two motorcycles and descended on me. One of them struck me on the head with a machete, leaving me with a deep cut. They would have killed me if not for my wife, who raised the alarm, forcing the assailants to flee.
“We reported the case to the Area Command in Ondo, and he (Akinnuoye) was arrested alongside two others. The case was charged to court. But now that the Attorney General has discontinued the case, my life is in danger because these people can come back to attack me.
“The Attorney General’s decision will embolden them to do worse. My family is no longer safe. The land does not belong to them; they just want to kill me and take it from me.”
Ajisafe called on the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to investigate the case and ensure that justice is served.
Also speaking with our correspondent, Ajisafe’s lawyer, Oluwafemi Akinbinu, described the Attorney General’s decision as “an abuse of public office.”
“This is an unfortunate abuse of power by the Attorney General. The same Attorney General had, a few months back, written a legal advice indicting Fred Akinnuoye and calling for his prosecution. We know the Attorney General is being influenced by some interested parties.
“But the moment politicians stepped in, the next thing we saw was the nolle prosequi, followed by him describing Ajisafe as a land grabber. How did he become a land grabber when Akinnuoye himself was an agent to Ajisafe’s father? After the father’s death, Akinnuoye claimed the deceased was his father and that all the land now belonged to him alone.”
Akinbinu warned that his client’s life was in danger following the release of the accused from detention and urged the Attorney General to reconsider his decision.
“The Attorney General should have called for a neutral investigation from both sides or invited the parties for a meeting instead of hearing from just one side and reaching a conclusion. We find this an unfortunate abuse of public office,” Akinbinu said.
The Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of Zone 17, Akure, Musibau Ajani, told our correspondent that the police carried out a “diligent investigation” before charging Akinnuoye to court.
“The case was reported, we conducted a diligent investigation, and the suspect was charged with a criminal offence. But the Attorney General has entered a nolle prosequi to discontinue the case,” Ajani said.
When contacted, the Attorney General insisted that it was within his constitutional powers to discontinue the case.
“Whatever he (Ajisafe) claimed or did not claim, my letter is very clear. The Attorney General has the right to file a nolle prosequi, and we have done that.
“The next issue about prosecution, let them go ahead with it; it is the court that will determine that. It is not my duty to argue what happened or what didn’t happen. As of now, that is the position of the law,” Ajulo said.
Attempts by our correspondent to get the Attorney General to speak further on the reason for discontinuing the case were unsuccessful.
“The nolle prosequi is self-explanatory, and I wouldn’t like to go further so as not to be misquoted. The press release clarifies any information you want to hear,” he insisted.
Speaking with our correspondent, the first son of the late Ajisafe, Farat Sangodiran, dismissed Akinnuoye’s claim of being one of his father’s sons.
He described Akinnuoye as an impostor who took advantage of his father’s death.
“The man (Akinnuoye) is not my father’s son; he is not even a member of our family. My father knew him when he fell sick. He was taken to my father for treatment, and out of trust, my father entrusted some of his landed property to him. But after my father’s death, he took advantage of the situation and laid claim to the land,” Sangodiran said.
When our correspondent contacted Akinnuoye on the phone for his reaction to the allegations, a woman who answered the call asked him to call back.
But when our correspondent called the phone number back, a man who identified himself as Femi Agunbiade said Akinnuoye was unavailable to attend to press inquiries.
Asked whether Akinnuoye would like to respond to the allegations, Agunbiade explained that he was receiving medical treatment at a hospital and could not grant an interview.
“He (Akinnuoye) is not available right now. He is in the hospital receiving treatment and cannot have any discussion with anybody for now,” he added.
Pressed further on when Akinnuoye would be available, Agunbiade replied, “I cannot tell you the exact time he will be able to speak with you. His incarceration has really affected his health. In fact, we were told to keep his phone away from him until he gets better. You can call him back.”
When our correspondent requested that Agunbiade relay the allegations to Akinnuoye for his response, he said, “Ask him (Ajisafe) to show you the judgment that gives him the right to operate on the land. Did he tell you about the attempt he made on Akinnuoye’s life? The issue is still in court, and I cannot say anything more about it.”
Further attempts by our correspondent to speak with Akinnuoye were not successful as his phone remained switched off at the time of filing this report.
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