Posted by By Ben Okezie and Ismil Omipidan, Abuja on
The police gave the nation a shocker yesterday when it did a full u-turn from its initial position on the death, last month, of the Chief Executive Officer of Mobitel Limited, Mr. Alaba Joseph.
The police gave the nation a shocker yesterday when it did a full u-turn from its initial position on the death, last month, of the Chief Executive Officer of Mobitel Limited, Mr. Alaba Joseph.
Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Mr. Sunday Ehindero announced that Joseph died as a result of an ‘accident', as opposed to the initial murder theory.
Ehindero has, therefore, ordered the release of General Tanko Ayuba (Rtd) and 20 other suspects arrested in connection with the death of the telecommunication chief, saying that he regretted putting them in custody.
But in an immediate reaction to the position of the IGP, widow of the late Mobitel MD, Mrs. Folashade Johnson who spoke to Saturday Sun from the Victoria Garden City, Lagos where the dead man was being buried yesterday said the IGP lied and had deliberately decided to shroud the cause of her husband's death in mystery with an intention to shield the people behind the act from the law.
The IGP at a press conference in Abuja yesterday afternoon said his decision to release all those arrested in connection with the incident, followed the report on the review of postmortem examination, initially carried out by medical team led by one Prof. John Oladabo Obafunwa on September 16, 2005, wherein it claimed that the deceased died as a result of craniocerebral injuries and gunshot.
But Mr. Ehindero said contrary to the first autopsy report, the review which he personally ordered revealed that the deceased died of an "accident occasioned by misadventure".
According to the IGP, he had to order a review of the first autopsy because it was characterized by certain inconsistencies.
For instance, he said, the police investigation officer, the stakeholders and even the family of the deceased were not represented or present during the first autopsy. He also said that even the corpse of the deceased was said to have been identified informally, through the name tag on the uniform write-up. All these Mr. Ehindero added, compelled him to order for a review, where all stakeholders, including the family members were either present or represented.
The review was carried out on Thursday, October 14, 2005, at the Department of Morbid Anatomy, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH). The medical team was led by Professor W. O. Odesanmi, an independent pathologist and a professor of forensic medicine, from the Obafemi Awolowo University.
Other members of the team included Professor Olusegun Ojo, professor of Anatomic Pathology, OAU, representing Inter continental Bank, Dr. Wilson Akwiwu, Consultant Pathologist, Police Medical, Benin, representing the police, Colonel (Dr) G. I. Ayuba, Consultant Pathologist Military Hospital, Ikoyi, Lagos representing Mobitel and Dr. J. D. Idowu, who represented the family.
The IGP further said that although invitation was extended to the professor who led the medical team during the first autopsy examination, but neither the professor nor his men honoured the invitation and so could not attend the review exercise.
Mr. Ehindero however said based on the evidence before the police, most of which were gathered during the investigation, the deceased died while trying to escape through the window of his office, situated on the third floor of the ICON House, Lagos. And with this, he declared the case "closed".
To further amplify the claim by the police that late Engineer Joseph, actually tried to escape through the window, when he noticed the presence of the receiver/manager of Mobitel, a lady who claimed to be a guest to the deceased before his death, told journalists that she "gently" shut the window back after the late mobitel boss had escaped.
The lady, who identified herself as Yemi Lawal, said:" I don't work with mobitel. I work in another company where late Engineer Joseph is also a director. Our company is involved in a pre-paid card business and we happen to share the same floor with mobitel.
"myself and another lady had gone there that morning to discuss our own company. Five minutes after we arrived his office, the intercom rang, and he (Joseph) gently picked the phone. Then, he got up from his seat, locked two entrances to his office gently. Later a text message came in, and he said they have moved the staff to the conference room.
"Later another text came in, and he said they are coming to break the door. He picked up his cell phones, put the keys in the pocket. He now asked if the window leads to anywhere and we said no! he said he was going to send text message to my cell phone, but I told him I did not come with it that day.
"He asked us to remain in the office, and that if the people (receiver/manager) come, we should tell them we also came to look for him but did not meet him. From there, he left through the window and I helped to close it gently.
"We were still in his office, when we heard cry from outside. So we left through one of the doors to join them in the car park. He left one of the keys behind the door", Yemi Lawal said.
On why Engineer Joseph would want to escape through the window, when the receiver/manager is not coming to effect any arrest, the police said "there is evidence to show that the deceased and Mr. Victor Emodi were invited to EFCC in respect of the N300 million MOBITEL owed NITEL, where they made an undertaking to pay N25 million, which they reneged on. It is therefore not possible that the deceased had reasonable apprehension that the visitors might be EFCC personnel".
"If it is true that my husband jumped, what happened to the result of the autopsy carried out by one of the best medical professors in the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital?
"We have never trusted the police to conduct a fair autopsy because they had earlier jumped into conculsion that my husband committed suicide even, before his body was examined.
"We are aware that policemen have continued to pile pressure on some of Mobitel staff to retract their earlier statements.
"However, the family would respond to the new development at the appropriate time. But something tells me that the person who killed my husband would be exposed.
In a eaction to the position of the police that Johnson died of accident, his widow, Mrs. Folashade Joseph said the statement by the police through the IGP is fabrication and a blatant lie aimed at shrouding the cause of th death in secrecy and the shielding the people behind it from the law.