Ekiti court jails footballer for stabbing opponent with bottle during match

By Boye Oyeyemi

An Ado-Ekiti Magistrates’ Court has sentenced a 22-year-old footballer, Adeoye Martins, to one year imprisonment for stabbing a fellow player in the face with a broken bottle during a football match in Ekiti State.

Martins, who plays for White Horse FC, was convicted on Tuesday by Magistrate Olatomiwa Daramola after being found guilty of assault and conduct likely to cause a breach of the peace.

The defendant was first arraigned on December 15, 2025, on a two-count charge; a charge he pleaded not guilty to.

In court, the prosecutor, Inspector Ayodeji Aina, disclosed that the incident occurred on December 8, 2025, at about 4 p.m. at the Ben Folarin Football Pitch in the Omisanjana area of Ado-Ekiti.

Aina revealed that the convict attacked his opponent, Saheed Abdulazeez of Jaydyn FC, during an argument and stabbed him on the right cheek with a jagged bottle.

“The defendant stabbed his opponent with a broken bottle during an argument and also conducted himself in a manner capable of causing a breach of the peace,” the prosecutor told the court.

He added that the offences contravened Sections 181(d) and 186 of the Criminal Law of Ekiti State, 2021.

Delivering judgment, Chief Magistrate Daramola sentenced Martins to one year imprisonment for assault and one month imprisonment for breach of peace. The court, however, gave him the option of paying a N5,000 fine on the first count and N2,000 on the second.