Posted by By Dipo Kehinde, Sola Fanawopo and Chris Anucha on
A takeover bid went awry in Lagos Yesterday as the Managing Director of Mobitel Nigeria Limited, Engr. Charles Alaba Joseph, died in mysterious circumstances, when officials of a commercial bank and its appointed receiver moved in with policemen to take control of the company.
A takeover bid went awry in Lagos Yesterday as the Managing Director of Mobitel Nigeria Limited, Engr. Charles Alaba Joseph, died in mysterious circumstances, when officials of a commercial bank and its appointed receiver moved in with policemen to take control of the company.
Joseph's body was found in his own pool of blood on the terrace of the first floor of the multi-storey building after a passer-by raised an alarm, having seen blood flowing out of a drainage conduit pipe attached to the terrace.
According to eye witnesses, the head of the Joseph, who arrived the ICON Building that houses Mobitel on Idejo Street, Victoria Island hail and hearty was found smashed and his neck was broken. Suicide and murder theories continued to trail the death yesterday, as detectives commenced investigation.
Earlier statement by Police spokesman, Mr. Bode Ojajuni, after the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ade Ajakaiye, visited the scene, pointed out that the death could be suicide. But Daily Sun investigation, reveals that a combined team of a bank receiver and policemen stormed Mobitel office between 10 and 11am for the formal takeover of the company.
Mobitel officials say the team's first port of call was Joseph's secretary's office. The secretary directed them to the legal unit of the company from where all the staff were asked to move to the conference room, where the team held meeting with the staff for about 20 minutes.
While the meeting was going on, policemen and green-uniformed private security men were stationed at the office corridors and no staff was allowed to get out. Joseph was not in the meeting but in his office.
Nothing was known of Joseph's death until after the meeting, when one of the staff was directed by the receiver manager to drive him to the company's exchange at Saka Tinubu. The man allegedly saw the body on the terrace.
Eyewitnesses also told Daily Sun that Mobitel's official photographer, who made an attempt to take pictures of the body was arrested and whisked away by policemen, who came with the receiver manager.
The team, Daily Sun learnt, left Mobitel office before policemen from Bar Beach Police station arrived to take the body away.
Further investigations revealed that Engr. Joseph, a leading light in Nigeria's telecommunication industry, had on Monday resigned his position as the president of the company. He came to the office Thursday to attend the company's board meeting fixed for 2pm, where his resignation was expected to be discussed.
But a critical look at the scene where Engr. Joseph's body was found showed that his office window was not by the side of the terrace. His office windows overlooks the front side of the building while his body was found far away at the left side terrace.
Described as an expert in private and public digital exchanges, Engr. Joseph was a graduate of Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Ife. He held a professional certificate in Satellite Communications Systems from Harris Corporation (USA).
After working with ITT, Siemens and Medcom (a telecom company), he founded Mobitel in 1990, therefore becoming the pioneer president/CEO.
Engr. Joseph's active participation in the privatisation/deregulatory process of the telecommunications industry in Nigeria was one of the many factors that led to his being elected to the position of president of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) where he ran two consecutive terms.
An indigene of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, Engr. Joseph is survived by wives and children