Ooni of Ife, Naomi Silekunola, former wife of the Ooni of Ife, and two others, being prosecuted for murder and manslaughter, have been admitted to N10 million bail each.

An Oyo State High Court in Ibadan granted the bail to Naomi Silekunola, Oriyomi Hamzat, a broadcaster and CEO, Agidigbo Radio FM, Ibadan, and Abdullahi Fasasi, the school principal of Islamic High School, Orita Basorun, Ibadan.

The three defendants are being prosecuted for the deaths of 35 children during a stampede at a Christmas funfair programme on December 18, 2024, at the Islamic High School.

The trio were arraigned in an Iyaganku Magistrate’s Court on December 24, 2024, on a four-count charge bordering on conspiracy, murder, manslaughter and negligence.

They were subsequently remanded at the Agodi Correctional Centre.

Counsel to the defendants subsequently filed applications for their bail at the state High Court.

Delivering a ruling on the bail application, on Monday, Justice Kamorudeen Olawoyin admitted the ex-queen and her co-defendants to bail in the sum of N10 million each with two reliable sureties.

Olawoyin said that the Magistrate Court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case due to the murder charge contained in the charge sheet.

He said that there was no place for holding charges in the constitution and keeping them in custody would amount to an infringement of their rights.

He said that the incident of the stampede was not a premeditated act and so the defendants were entitled to bail.

The judge directed that the defendants must submit their international passports to the court and must not grant any press interview in print or on social media during the trial. (NAN)