Posted by From AKEEB ALARAPE, Ibadan on
Police authorities in Oyo State, yesterday recovered the official car of the embattled director of Odu'a Investment Company Limited, Alhaji Olawale Oladoja in the home of Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu.
Police authorities in Oyo State, yesterday recovered the official car of the embattled director of Odu'a Investment Company Limited, Alhaji Olawale Oladoja in the home of Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu.
The car was seized from him by thugs suspected to be loyal to the petrel of Ibadan politics on Friday.
The car - a Toyota Camry - was recovered from the palatial residence of Adedibu by a team of policemen led by the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) in charge of operations, Mr. Frank Sholla David.
It would be recalled that social miscreants had swooped on Oladoja, immediately after observing his Eid-El-Fitr celebration prayers at Agodi Praying Ground and seized the car from him.
Although an aide of Adedibu, Alhaji Taofeek Olayiwola, told newsmen on Friday that the 80-year-old politician had nothing to do with the incident, Oladoja told Sunday Sun that he was being victimized because of the petition he wrote to the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission (ICPC)over N5.2 billion fraud discovered by him as a director of the business conglomerate.
Confirming the recovery of the car to Sunday Sun on telephone, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) in the state, Mr. Isaac Aigbe, stated that Adedibu personally called the police authorities that the car was in his custody.
'Chief Adedibu called us to say that the vehicle was in his custody and we have sent our men to go and collect it. Yes, I can confirm to you that the car is now with us. It has just been driven in," Aigbe stated.
The police chief did not disclose whether anybody was arrested in connection with the car recovery, explaining that the most important thing was the recovery of the car.
Sources at the police headquarters, Eleyele, however, confided in Sunday Sun that the official car had been partially damaged by the hoodlums with some of its glasses vandalized.
Meanwhile, a lawyer to the embattled Odu'a director, Mr. Sunday Ike of Chief Oladosu Oladapo (SAN) Chambers, has described the treatment meted out to his client as very embarrassing, saying that there was a subsisting court order restraining the police from harassing Oladoja pending the determination of a suit he instituted against Odu'a management.
The order, which Ike claimed was issued by a Federal High Court sitting in Abeokuta on September 26, with reference number FHC/AB/PS/31, was said to have been duly served on the police at their headquarters, Eleyele, when Oladoja was arrested few weeks back on the allegation that he stole the car.
Speaking further, Ike acknowledged that his client had been relieved of his appointment as a director on the board of Odu'a conglomerate, but stated that they were in court to challenge the process that led to the termination of his appointment.
His words: 'The termination of his appointment did not follow due process, and that is what we are contesting at the court. His removal has political undertone.
'They are harassing him because he discovered a fraud in Odu'a which he reported to the appropriate authority for investigation. Meanwhile efforts by Sunday Sun to get the reaction of the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Samuel Odulana Odugade 1 to the maltreatment meted out to the Ekeerin (fourth in command) of Olubadan, High Chief Omowale Kuye, yielded no result yesterday as none of the palace officials was ready to comment on the incident.
Kuye, a former Director of Budget at the Presidency was molested by suspected thugs at the Agodi Praying Ground for daring to position himself in front on the Chief Adedibu for the prayer session.