Posted by Olusola Fabiyi, Abuja on
Controversy over the death of the President of Mobitel, Mr. Alaba Joseph, deepened on Friday as the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Sunday Ehindero, attributed it to injuries sustained when the company chief died from 'misadventure" as he fell in a bid to escape from his office.
Controversy over the death of the President of Mobitel, Mr. Alaba Joseph, deepened on Friday as the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Sunday Ehindero, attributed it to injuries sustained when the company chief died from 'misadventure" as he fell in a bid to escape from his office.
The police boss also cleared Mr. Femi Pinhero, the Receiver Manager, who was denied the title of a Senior Advocate of Nigeria because of the case recently, and other directors of Mobitel and Intercontinental Bank of involvement in the September 15, 2005 incident.
Ehindero told newsmen in Abuja that the report of a team of pathologists indicated that Joseph died on 'multiple fractures of skull associated with lacerations of the brain due to a fall from a height," thus debunking the family's claim that he was shot.
Interestingly, an interim report which was submitted by the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ade Ajakaiye, to the IG, indicated that an autopsy showed that Joseph was shot.
A September 23, 2005 statement signed by the Force Public Relations Officer, Mr. Haz Iwendi, had indicated that the IG directed the Force Criminal Investigation Department to immediately take over the probe.
Iwendi also said the IG gave the directive after perusing Ajakaiye's report, adding, 'The said report was unequivocal as to the cause of death, to wit gunshot injury and craniocerebral injuries. That autopsy dispels the rumour that the deceased voluntarily jumped out of the window in an atempt to escape. Investigation is therefore to proceed along the directional line of this new scientific information."
However, Ehindero fully reversed himself when he said on Friday that the fresh angle was based on the findings of a team of pathologists which recently carried out an autopsy on the body.
The report, which was signed by five pathologists representing the police, Mobitel, Intercontinental Bank and one other independent pathologist from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, stated, 'Based on our review of the initial autopsy report and pictures as well as our autopsy re-examination, we are of the opinion that the cause of death is: Multiple Fractures of skull Associated with lacerations of the brain due to a fall from a height."
Although Ehindero claimed that one Dr. J.G. Idowu represented the late Joseph's family on the panel, his name and signature were conspicuously missing from the new report.
The pathologists claimed there were no gunshot wounds to the head or any other part of the body as indicated in the report of the first autopsy carried out by another team of pathologists led by Prof. John Oladapo Obafunwa.
The Obafunwa report, which was referred to in Ajakaiye's submission to Ehindero, was unequivocal that Joseph died as a result of 'craniocerebral injuries and gunshot injury."
However, the new report said, 'There was no bullet hole in the skull although there was extensive sub-galeal bruising on the parts of the scalp as well as multiple comminuted fractures of the skull involving the right side, facial comminuted fractures of the skull."
It also claimed that the skull injuries were due to the impact of the head on the concrete floor as a result of the fall of the late telecom expert while trying to escape, upon the arrival of the receivicer/manager.
Ehindero said that the police investigating officer and other stakeholders and the deceased's family were not represented during the investigations carried out by the Obafunwa team and that the lead pathologist started work before the coroner ordered the post-mortem examination.
The police boss, while trying to dismiss the Obafunwa report, also said that the identification of the corpse was informal 'as the deceased was said to have been identified through name tag on the uniform."
He pointed out that investigation showed that the police, in its effort at revealing the cause of the death, also retrieved all the firearms carried by the police team that accompanied the receiver/manager on the day of the incident, adding that findings indicated that none of the members fired a single shot.
Ehindero said the result of the new post-mortem, which was carried out on Thursday, had shown clearly ‘that the late Alaba Joseph died as a result of an accident occasioned by misadventure having tried to escape through his office window and was attempting to scale all other obstacles before he slipped off and fell on the third floor of ICON House."
The late Joseph's driver, Mr. Lukeman Kareem, who claimed that he had worked with his boss for eight years and the Secretary, Mrs. Omoyeni Fabiyi, confirmed this position.
Ehindero thus freed all those arrested in connection for the murder, saying the police had closed the file on the death. Those freed include Pinhero, Tanko Ayuba and other staff of Mobitel.
Meanwhile, Joseph was buried on Friday in Lagos at the Victoria Court Cemetry. Assistant Provincial Pastor, Lagos Province II of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Austin Ukaiwe, who conducted the funeral service, encouraged his family members to cease mourning and face life with hope as everything would eventually be turned into joy.
In his sermon, which he took from Revelation 5:1-8 and titled Weep Not, he noted that life had many baffling situations only God could provide answers to. He then enjoined them to take solace in the fact that God will eventually make all things good.
'Weep not for everything shall be turned to joy. We do not understand why things happen. Life has so many questions no one can provide any answer to except God. What happened to Joseph, why and how he died can only be revealed by God," he said.
SATURDAY PUNCH, October 15, 2005