A High Court sitting in Ado-Ekiti on Tuesday sentenced a 48-year-old man, Olatide Temitope Emmanuel, to death by hanging for murder and impersonation.
The presiding judge, Justice Jubril Aladejana, delivered the judgment after finding the defendant guilty of causing the death of one Bosede Falade during a childbirth operation.
The convict was arraigned before the court on Dec. 11, 2025, on a two-count charge bordering on murder and impersonation.
According to the charge, Emmanuel on June 24, 2019 at Odo Ikole Compound, Erinmope-Ekiti, murdered Falade Bosede during childbirth.
The charge also stated that on June 9, 2019 at Ajebamidele Street, Otun-Ekiti, the convict falsely represented himself as a medical doctor.
The prosecutor, Kunle-Shina Adeyemo, told the court that the offences were contrary to Section 316 and punishable under Section 319(1) of the Criminal Code Law, Cap. C16, Laws of Ekiti State, 2012.
An eyewitness, Rev. Omotade, in his statement to the police, said the deceased’s husband had informed him that his wife died during childbirth at about 9 p.m. at Erinmope-Ekiti.
He said on getting to the clinic, he saw the corpse on a stretcher while the self-acclaimed doctor stood beside it, adding that his examination of the body suggested that the operation was carried out unprofessionally.
The defendant, however, told the court in his testimony that he had worked as a nursing apprentice in a hospital in Lagos State and later established his own clinic in Erinmope-Ekiti in 2019.
Delivering judgment, Justice Aladejana held that the defendant’s admission under cross-examination that he was not a qualified medical practitioner yet carried out surgery showed a reckless disregard for human life, and consequently sentenced him to death by hanging.
