A Federal High Court sitting in Abeokuta, Ogun State, has discharged Oba Adedayo Shyllon Sogbulu, the Alagbado of Agbado, in a cybercrime case that lasted nearly eight months, as the man alleged to have fabricated and circulated the threatening online post that triggered the matter has now been charged before a Federal High Court in Lagos.
Justice Abiodun J. Adeyemi of the Abeokuta Judicial Division struck out charge number FHC/AB/79C/2025 on March 3, 2026, after the prosecution failed to arraign the monarch across five separate court appearances.
“Justice delayed is justice denied,” the judge ruled. “The court cannot continue to allow a charge hang on the head of the Defendant indefinitely,” he added, noting specifically that the defendant holds a traditional office.
The case began with a social media post belonging to Oba Shyllon Sogbulu, in which the monarch was captured performing traditional rites.
As gathered, a blogger, now identified as Sadiq Adisa, allegedly accessed the post and altered it to read that the Oba was threatening to kill the Alake and paramount ruler of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo, and his family, a manipulated communication that, according to the Lagos charge sheet, was designed to be “considered or acted upon as if it were authentic or genuine.”
The altered post, prosecutors allege, placed Oba Shyllon Sogbulu “in fear of death, violence or bodily harm.”
The Ogun State Police Command subsequently invited the monarch, ostensibly for a joint interview, based on a petition written against him by Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo. However, what happened next blindsided him entirely.
“They re-invited me like three or four days after,” he recounted, “with the hope that we are coming for the interview with other party or parties. Only for them to serve me a charge sheet, a prepared, filed charge sheet from the Federal High Court, Abeokuta, as a defendant.”
In other words, the man whose post had been manipulated, and against whom a fake, doctored video was used to allege that he wanted to kill the Alake and his family, was charged as the suspect.
Convinced that the prosecution was riddled with procedural failures, Oba Shyllon Sogbulu escalated. “No investigation was conducted, no joint interview, a lot of lapses,” he said, describing why he first petitioned the Inspector-General of Police.
When that petition yielded nothing, he took his complaint to the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation.
The AGF responded. On September 16, 2025, the Director of Public Prosecutions wrote to the court invoking Section 174 of the 1999 Constitution, requesting to take over the case from the police.
On September 23, 2025, Justice Adeyemi granted the application, formally transferring prosecution to the federal ministry and ordering that the directive be served on the IGP, the Assistant Inspector-General for Zone 2, and the Ogun State Police Commissioner.
The AGF’s intervention did not accelerate proceedings. By March 3, 2026, the fifth time the matter was called, prosecution counsel H. A. Ashesim again appeared before Justice Adeyemi, this time to request a fresh adjournment.
He told the court that two investigation reports had only recently been received and required reconciliation before a decision could be made.
“In one report the Defendant here is a Complainant and in another he is the Defendant, in the same subject matter,” Ashesim told the court, a concession that the same investigation that produced the charge against the Oba had also documented him as the victim in the very same matter.
Chief Adekunle Funmilayo, counsel for Oba Shyllon Sogbulu, opposed the adjournment. He informed the court that the actual perpetrator had since been identified and charged in Lagos.
“After investigation the culprit has been charged to Court, in FHC/L/46C/2026, on the same subject matter,” Funmilayo told the judge. “We pray for the strike out of the case.”
Justice Adeyemi agreed, invoking Section 36 of the Constitution, which anchors the right to fair hearing on trial within a reasonable time, and struck out the case.
“This is the 5th time this case is called and the prosecution is unable to arraign the Defendant,” he observed. “Justice must be fair but it must also be timely.” The Oba was accordingly discharged.
The Blogger Now Faces Court
A charge sheet filed by the Inspector-General of Police at the Federal High Court, Lagos, dated February 2, 2026, names Sadiq Adisa as the sole defendant. He faces three counts under the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention etc) Act, 2015.
Count One alleges conspiracy to cyberstalk Oba Shyllon Sogbulu, contrary to Section 27(1)(b) of the Act. Count Two alleges the intentional transmission of false communication through a computer network, the manipulated post, placing the monarch in fear of death or bodily harm, contrary to Section 24(2)(a).
Count Three alleges that Adisa knowingly accessed the Oba’s social media post and altered it, “with the intention that the inauthentic post will be considered or acted upon as if it were authentic or genuine,” contrary to Section 13 of the same Act.
The charge was signed by Omonyimenle Eliot Ijie, Chief Superintendent of Police and Assistant Director/Head of Legal Services, Zone 2 Headquarters, Onikan, Lagos.
Adisa is yet to be arraigned as his arraignment, scheduled for Thursday, March 19, 2026, could not hold as the date fell on a public holiday.
Therefore, a fresh date is expected to be announced.
