The Lagos State High Court has denied a fresh bail application by Ahmed Tajudeen Akanbi, the principal suspect in the alleged murder of two prominent members of the Ajiran community in the Eti-Osa Local Government Area of Lagos State.
Akanbi was brought into the courtroom in a wheelchair when his trial resumed on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, at Court 8 of the Lagos State High Court, Igbosere, following a delay of more than six months.
During the proceedings, his lead counsel, Barrister Adedotun Ajulo, urged the court to grant him bail to enable him to receive adequate medical attention.
The lawyer asked the court to consider Akanbi’s health condition and allow him access to the necessary treatment while the trial continues.
However, Justice Abdul-Raheem Muyideen rejected the bail application and directed that Akanbi be returned to the custodial facility in Ikoyi, Lagos, where he would be allowed to receive the medical attention he requires.
The court subsequently adjourned the case until November 3, 2026, for further proceedings.
Akanbi is standing trial alongside Shafi Fatai and Yusuf Ismaila over the alleged killings of Sheriff Ishola Salami and Prince Kazeem Ademola Akinloye, two members of the Ajiran community.
Salami was reportedly killed in Moba, Eti-Osa, on April 18, 2023, while Akinloye was allegedly assassinated along Chevron Road on August 26, 2024.
The latest development comes amid a series of bail applications filed by Akanbi’s lawyers before different judges of the Lagos State High Court between June and August 2026.
As previously reported by SaharaReporters, the court on August 27 barred Akanbi from filing another application similar to one his lawyers had presented before vacation judges, directing them instead to approach the substantive judge handling the murder trial.
The ruling was delivered by Justice A.M. Ipaye at Court 51 of the Fast Track/Commercial Division of the Tapa Courthouse in Suit No. LD/28350C/2026, The State of Lagos v. Shafi Fatai, Yusuf Ismaila and Hammed Tajudeen Akanbi.
According to the proceedings, counsel for Akanbi had informed the court of an application dated August 24 seeking permission for the matter to be heard during the 2026 long vacation.
The court noted that the same application had previously been presented before two vacation judges. The first judge dismissed it on July 22, while the second struck it out.
Justice Ipaye subsequently ruled that Akanbi could not file the same or a similar application again and directed his lawyers to approach the substantive judge.
“The Applicant is not permitted to bring same similar application again. They are to go before the Substantive Judge,” the court held.
Our correspondent had earlier reported that Akanbi’s lawyers approached at least four different judges with bail-related applications between June and August, prompting a vacation court to describe the pattern as an abuse of court process.
How The Bail Dispute Unfolded
The sequence of applications followed a June 25, 2026, remand order by Justice A.T. Muyideen, directing that Akanbi be held at the Ikoyi Minimum Custodial Centre after the court found that the police had exhausted the constitutionally permissible period for keeping him in
The order was complicated by correctional officials’ refusal to admit Akanbi because of his medical condition. An interim arrangement was subsequently made under which the police continued to take him for treatment while the remand order remained in force.
On July 3, when the three defendants were arraigned, Akanbi’s counsel relied on an affidavit of urgency in support of a bail application before Justice Muyideen.
The judge reaffirmed his earlier remand order and adjourned the substantive matter to November 3, 5, 10, 19 and 25, 2026.
Despite the pending application, Akanbi’s lawyers filed a separate bail application before Justice Olumuyiwa O. Martins.
In a ruling delivered on July 22, Justice Martins held that the fresh application was unnecessary and amounted to an attempt to undermine Justice Muyideen’s orders. The application was denied and dismissed.
On August 6, the lawyers approached Justice S.I. Sonaike with another bail application. The judge struck it out on the grounds that the same application was already pending before Justice Muyideen.
A day later, on August 7, Justice O.L. Alebiosu considered a separate fundamental rights suit and bail application at the Ikeja Judicial Division.
After discovering through the Judicial Information System that the substantive case was already before Justice Muyideen, Justice Alebiosu declined to determine the bail question separately, citing the risk of conflicting decisions.
The latest ruling and Wednesday’s proceedings bring the dispute over Akanbi’s bail back before the judge handling the substantive murder trial, with the case scheduled to resume on November 3, 2026.
