Posted by By BIYI ADEGOROYE on
The police yesterday confirmed initial suspicions that the late President of Mobitel, Mr. Charles Joseph, may not have coommitted suicidde afterall, as it hinted that the telecommuniications chief executive may have actually died of gunshot wounds.
The police yesterday confirmed initial suspicions that the late President of Mobitel, Mr. Charles Joseph, may not have coommitted suicidde afterall, as it hinted that the telecommuniications chief executive may have actually died of gunshot wounds.
To further unnravel the how and why of the death, Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Sunday Ehindero, has directed the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID), under a Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) to take over investigations of the case.
The directive came on the heals of official scientific information (autopsy report) indicating that Joseph died of cranioeceredral injuries (‘gunshot injury) - "a report which dispelled the earlier rumour that the deceased voluntarily jumped out of the window in attempt to escape."
A statement signed by the Force Public Relations officer, Mr. Haz Iwendi (DCP), stated that "investigations is therefore to proceed along the directional line of this new scientific information. It is thus to be noted that compulsion of duty as well as public interest generated by the death dictate that the FCID must unravel the circumstances of the death and report back to the IGP within a short time."
Police authorities, which had earlier sought the intervention of ballisticians in the preliminary report sent to the force headquarters in Abuja, may also look into the internal crises for possible hint capable of facilitating demystification of the death of the telecom chief who is said to also be the third largest shareholder of Mobitel.
Police had recently interrogated some directors of the bank over the death. However, the police are looking at the alleged board crises and the epic battle, which precipitated Mr. Joseph's resignation, as contained in two quit letters he wrote before his death.
Detectives were worried that Joseph's death coincided with the arrival of the receiver, but not before his resignation and complaints of plots to scheme him out of the company he helped to build.
Documents in police possession, including Joseph's resignation letter ahead of his death, are said to tell of his frustration over the inability of the company to return to the path of financial health and the insensitivity of other board members to the financial obligations, especially its heavy indebtedness.
Joseph has said in the letter that: " Some events of the past 2-3 years have eroded the gains of the past and the reputation we have painstakingly built over the years could be irreparably damaged if urgent and immediate actions are not taken to reverse the dwindling fortunes of the company.
"The atmosphere of a happy, hardworking and responsible family built on internal cohesion, technical competence, responsive customer care, purposeful and transformational leadership and loyal staff has been fouled," one of the documents said.
Posers for the police
Was Joseph eliminated so that he would not squeal on the palpable dirty deals in the company? Were the shareholders of the company in the dark about the affairs of the company, which Joseph knew so well? Was Joseph standing on the way of other board members? Are the receivers to blame for the incident? Who fired and with what type of gun? These are the puzzles detectives want to resolve.
As the riddle between murder and suicide continues, some believe that while several banks have adopted some unprofessional debt-recovery methods, killing a customer is a remote option. "Killing a customer would not facilitate the recovery of the N800m credit facility. No bank in Nigeria of today would resort to that strategy. They will rather show interest in recovering loan or receiving property.
His death will not resolve the loan problem. It would be insane to eliminate a client over debt, after all, dead men or organizations do not repay loans. Most importantly life is irreplaceable," a top police officer said.
Detectives would also want to identify the correlation between their findings so far and revelation by the personal secretary of Joseph, Mrs. Olorunyomi, to the effect that no gunshot was hard during the presence of the receiver-mangers at the communications company.