Death Sentence: Adeleke refutes alleged plans to pardon hotelier Adedoyin

Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has denied speculations that he has perfected plans to grant State pardon to the owner of Hilton Hotel, Dr Rahmon Adedoyin, who was sentenced to death by hanging alongside two staff members, for the murder of Timothy Adegoke, a postgraduate student of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.

Adedoyin was convicted and consequently sentenced to death by Osun State Chief Judge, Justice Oyebola Ojo, on May 31st, 2023.

Responding to the rumour of a possible state pardon for Adedoyin, Governor Adeleke in a statement issued on Monday, through his spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, said, “No plans to subvert the judgement of death sentence on Dr Rahman Adedoyin.”

Rasheed stated that Adeleke’s administration will never intervene in the judicial process or subvert justice, labelling those behind the fake news as public enemies.

“Those who concocted the fake news are evil minded political operatives who are merely grasping at straws in their desperation to blackmail the state Governor. Governor Adeleke has not and will never contemplate exercising the prerogative of mercy or whatever the report calls it, on a matter under adjudication which has generated deep interest among local and global communities”, he said.

Rasheed noted that neither his principal nor his political party has any plans to help Adedoyin avoid serving his jail time.

“We affirm with all sense of responsibility that Governor Adeleke is not at any material time a friend or partner of the owner of Oduduwa University and did not interfere, intervene or manifest any untoward agenda in the arraignment, hearing and sentencing of the accused.

“We, therefore, urged the members of the public to ignore the repeated rumours of state pardon by Governor Adeleke for the convict and the watery push to link service records of a state judicial official to a popular verdict on the gruesome murder of a postgraduate student. Those peddling such lies are agents of darkness acting on behalf of disgruntled, dark political elements. They are better ignored”, he added.