Oduduwa News

The investigation of the circumstances surrounding the death and burial of the Obafemi Awolowo University MBA student, Timothy Adegoke, took a twist yesterday following an allegation that the deceased was buried by workers of the Ife Central Local Government with the consent of the police.

Mr. Abiodun Williams, counsel to the detained Chairman of Hilton Hotel and Resorts, Chief Ramon Adegoke, now wants the police to widen the scope of their investigation to cover this allegation.

Williams, in a November 26,2021 petition to the Osun State Police Commissioner, claimed that some people working close to where the corpse was dumped reported the matter to the LG authorities who, in turn, contacted the police to seek their consent for burial.

The police subsequently granted the request, Williams said.

He said: “You will recall that some of the suspects in your custody allegedly confessed to dumping the corpse of late Mr Timothy Adegoke in the bush, they did not admit to burying him. You will equally recall that during the interview you granted to Rave 97.1 FM Radio on the 22nd day of November 2021, there it was insinuated that some of the suspects confessed to have buried the corpse in the bush at about 2km to the hotels somewhere along Ede Road, Ile-Ife, Osun State. However, there is now a strong rumour peddled by some people to the effect that that position may not be correct after all.

“It was the officials of the Department of Public Health, Ife Central Local Government, Ile-Ife that buried the deceased having received clearance from the officers of the Nigerian Police of one of the Divisions in Ile-Ife. We could not establish which of the divisions in Ile-Ife gave the clearance.

However, we are of the view that, if the information is correct, discreet and diligent investigations will establish it.”

He said if the police could establish that officers of the Public Health Department, Ife Central Local Government were the ones that buried the corpse of Adegoke, it would go a long way in assisting the pathologists in their quest to unravel the circumstances that led to Adegoke’s death.

Williams said: “It would stop the question: ‘why did those that buried the corpse of Mr Timothy Adegoke keep silent all this while and allow an innocent man to be languishing in detention?’”

He added: “We also gathered from the stories going round in the public domain that the artisans, workers and business owners around the premises where the body of late Timothy Adegoke was initially found reported the case to the police; who in turn cleared the officials of the Department of Public Health, Ife Central Local Government, Ile-Ife to bury the corpse.

“We heard that activities leading to the burial of the deceased young man were properly recorded on video and pictures taken by the officials.”

He implored the police commissioner to “use your good office to confirm the truth of the information stated here-above for the purpose of truly determining what role each of the suspects and/or anyone or officers of government played in the events that led to the death and burial of Mr. Timothy Adegoke to ensure that justice is done above all things.

“We are of the view that if the information relating to the burial of the corpse of the deceased is promptly investigated, it would further establish the innocence of our client.”

The Chairman of the LG, Hon Olayera Elugbaju,had told The Nation on Friday that speculations that some local government staff had been arrested by the police for their involvement in burying the corpse of Adegoke were untrue.

“No staff of the secretariat was arrested by the police. I cannot confirm to you now if our staff buried the corpse of Adegoke until I see the file they record corpses that the local government had buried in the time past,” he said.

ODUDUWA NEWS has just gathered that a tanker conveying Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) from unknown destination enroute Lafenwa in Abeokuta has gutted with fire, which resulting to loss of property.

Citizens are hereby advised to make use of alternative road to avert any casualties.

Details later.

A former deputy national chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Bode George, has announced he would retire from partisan politics from 2023.

George, a former governor of Ondo State said his decision was out of the calls from his children who wanted him to take a rest from the national services.

The PDP leader, who spoke in an interview with Business Day, said “I was discussing it with my first child and while we were talking, he said, look daddy, we need you more now. You know I just had surgery. Maybe after the surgery he is beginning to think differently. He said daddy you spent 25 years in the Navy. By 2023, you would have spent 25 years in politics. That is 50 years of your life in service to this country. He said he thinks that is enough and that they need me more now.

“When I looked at it, what he said made a lot of sense to me. I am even 76 now. If I have put such a number of years into the service of the nation, I think that is okay. I will remove myself from partisan politics. So, I will not be for party ‘A’ or party ‘B’ and I will be the father of all. If there is anything that is not going right, we will proffer solution and discuss.

“By 2023, I will be 78 years old. Well, Generals don’t retire, we only fade away. But my body system is sending me an alarm. I was a state governor when I was 42. Now I am 76 years old. So from 2023, I won’t be participating in partisan politics and you know another person will emerge.”

While speaking on the controversies surrounding the recently released report of the EndSARS panel, the elder statemen said the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, should handle the matter with carefulness in order not to damage his image.

“When you pass through the tollgate now, you could see that they are doing some wiring and testing, I want to advise Sanwo-Olu, this happened during his watch; I was a governor; I think I left in 1990 and I have been in and out of Ondo State. You know that time it was Ondo and Ekiti states if I had misbehaved, would I have the guts to go back there. So, I want to advise him, Sanwo-Olu is a big name and his mother comes from Lagos, the Cole family, a very big family and a Godly family, you can’t put and cover such for a long time.

“The recommendations that they have made, first of all, even if they are pushing him to reopen the tollgate, the truth has come out now. From January next year, political activities would start, governance is over because by December we will start having all the elections. So, I don’t know because there are too many rumours flying all over that Bola Tinubu now wants his son to come and contest for the governorship of Lagos. So, they turn it into a family affair but let him think that he has a family name behind him both from his mother’s side and his father’s side. And that the truth has been told; of course, people will talk but my own contribution is, let him study that document and be straight with himself and his God and take appropriate action.

“To err is human but to forgive is divine. It is not a repetition, it happened; lives were lost and he should read that document cover to cover and make amends and apologise to the people of this state. You know Lagos is mini Nigeria. There is no tribe that exists in this country that you will not find in Lagos. So, if Lagos sneezes, Nigeria catches a cold. So, let him look at it from that and take a cursory look and in-depth analysis and correct the ills. If there is a need to apologise to the people, of course, he has to apologise.

“Let him be bold enough as a child of God and say he is sorry for all the stories that came out and do something for those who lost their lives. Of course, I believe the military itself because I was in the service you don’t take orders from any governor or anybody. The only fellow that gives you order is the commander in chief and when he gives his orders straight to the minister of defence from the minister of defence straight to the chief of defence staff. So, that is our chain of command, no civilian will just call the military out to come and do something, how? So, people wanted to know how the military get involved. If it was a mistake, it should never happen again. Number two, if some people are pushing him to reopen tollgate, he should go back and do a rethink. Like I said from January 2022 politics will be on the rise.”

Usman Baba, the Inspector-General of Police, has waded into the case of Timothy Adegoke, the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) MBA student who was found dead at the Hilton Hotel and Resorts, Ile-Ife, Osun State.

A police source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said a team from Abuja arrived at the Osun Police Command on November 25 to work out modalities on how to transfer the investigation to Abuja.

“I can confirm to you that the Force Headquarters, under the instruction of the IGP, has ordered the transfer of the case to Abuja,” the source told FIJ. “Rahmon Adegoke, the owner of the hotel, has also been transported to the Force Headquarters where investigations would continue.”

FIJ gathered that the case is now being handled by the IGP’s Intelligence Response Team (IRT) at the Force Headquarters.

Timothy was an MBA student at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU). He had travelled to Osun in November with the hope of sitting for scheduled exams at OAU’s Distance Learning Centre. He was initially declared missing on November 7 before his corpse was found eight days later.