The Court of Appeal sitting in Akure, Ondo State capital has set aside the judgement of the state High Court that sentenced the founder of the Sotitobire Praising Chapel, Prophet Babatunde Alfa to life Imprisonment.
In the judgement read by Justice Gamma Barka on behalf of other judges, the court quashed the judgement of the Ondo State High Court which sentenced the Prophet to life imprisonment.
The lower court, presided over by Justice Olusegun Odusola had in 2020 sentenced Babatunde and five others – Omodara Olayinka, Margaret Oyebola, Grace Ogunjobi, Egunjobi Motunrayo and Esther Kayode – to life imprisonment, having found them guilty of two charges.
The Sotitobire founder had asked the Appeal Court to nullify his life sentence conviction by the court.
The court ruled that the circumstantial evidence the High Court based its judgement on was not enough to convict him. Prophet Alfa was therefore discharged and acquitted
Meanwhile, the Sotitobire praising chapel in Oshinle Akure went agog when the news of the judgement filtered in.
The members of the church had arrived early to offer praise and worship as well as pray for the judgement to be in favour of their General Overseer.
The atmosphere, however, changed to that of a carnival when the news came in that Prophet Alfa had been set free by the court.
In his reaction, the Ondo State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Charles Titiloye, who is also the prosecutor, said the state government would study the judgement before deciding on the next step to take on the matter.
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