Posted by From Seun Adeoye, Osogbo on
AS efforts were still being put together to ensure that justice is done as regards the murder in December 2001 of Odunayo Omobolanle Olagbaju, a former member of the Osun State House of Assembly, the prime suspect in the case, Dr. Mayowa Egbedire (a.k.a. Egbedi), was reportedly dead last week.
AS efforts were still being put together to ensure that justice is done as regards the murder in December 2001 of Odunayo Omobolanle Olagbaju, a former member of the Osun State House of Assembly, the prime suspect in the case, Dr. Mayowa Egbedire (a.k.a. Egbedi), was reportedly dead last week.
Egbedire, who was among those still at large, was said to have committed suicide at his hideout on Wednesday.
At the resumed hearing of the case at an Ile-Ife High Court last Friday, only three of the 11 suspects appeared in court.
Also on the run, and in the wanted list, are a former Ife Central Local Council Chairman Abdul Rauf Adeniji and former lawyer in the House of Assembly.
The Guardian learnt that Egbedire had since jumping police bail relocated to a village from where he travelled to Ibadan, Oyo State capital last Monday for a meeting of the Alliance for Democracy (AD).
During the meeting, he was reported to have complained to the AD chieftains that the party in Osun State had left him to suffer by falling to give him necessary support.
Egbedire reportedly vowed during the meeting that he would rather die than appear as a suspect in the Olagbaju case.
On returning home, The Guardian learnt that he asked the wife for a plate of rice which was given to him. But before taking it, he sent her on an errand.
When the wife later returned, she found him foaming and gasping for breath. She raised an alarm upon discovering some substances suspected to be poison by his side.
Upon knowing that the man had died, arrangements were made for his burial at Ile-Ife, a move resisted by the indigenes of the town.
Plans to also dump his remains at the mortuary of both the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital (OAUTH), Ife-Ife and the Seventh Day Adventist Hospital were also resisted by residents.
Policemen at the Moore Station were alerted about the bereaved family's moves and at this point Egbedire's body was taken to Ladoke Akintola University Teaching Hospital (LAUTECH) mortuary.
When contacted, the Police Area Commander in Ife, Mr. Ade Shinaba, confirmed the story but said the case was being handled by the State Criminal Investigative Department (SCID), Osogbo.`