More Controversy Trails Death Of OAU Postgraduate Student Over Autopsy
- By Toba Adedeji, Osogbo, The Nation
Hotel owner’s lawyers accuse victim’s family of frustrating investigations
Family: ‘No, we were not informed
Deceased’s corpse not in our morgue — OAUTHC
Counsel to detained Dr. Rahman Adedoyin, owner of Hilton Hotel and Resorts, Ile-Ife, Mr. William Abiodun, has accused the family of the late Timothy Adegoke of frustrating Police investigation of the circumstances surrounding his death.
The body of Adegoke, a Master of Business Administration (MBA) student of the Obafemi Awolowo University,Ile Ife, was found where it was dumped after allegedly dying in the hotel penultimate weekend.
Adedoyin and five of his employees in the hotel are currently being interrogated by the Police on the matter.
Abiodun, in a statement, claimed that Adegoke’s relatives refused to turn up for the autopsy scheduled for Friday even after they were duly notified and had given their consent to be present.
But the family denied the allegation. They said they were not aware of any scheduled autopsy.
The legal practitioner said the autopsy would have helped to put an end to speculations about how Adegoke died and whether any part of his body is missing as alleged by some people.
What could have been a giant step towards unraveling the cause of Adegoke’s death was frustrated by his family, Abiodun said.
According to him, all parties in the dispute had agreed with the Police for the conduct of the autopsy on Friday only for the Adegokes to keep away at the last minute.
He said a team of independent pathologists led by professors had arrived from Abuja and Ilorin on Thursday in preparation for the autopsy which was scheduled to commence by 9am on Friday, 19th November 2021.
He stated that when the Police team from the Osun State Police Command and the pathologists arrived at 9am, the members of the family of the deceased were not available.
He said that Police officers handling the case called them repeatedly on the phone to know their whereabouts and their initial response was that they were stuck in traffic in Osogbo at about 12noon.
Three hours later, he said the Adegokes called back to say they were no longer coming.
“It is clear that this is a calculated attempt to frustrate investigation into the matter and establish the fact that Timothy Adegoke died of natural causes,” Abiodun said.
He added: “The same brother spoke with The Nation and said that the Police have not told him what killed his brother and the reason why they arrested Chief Ramon Adedoyin. If that is the case, why is he going about smearing his name?
“Justice is a tripartite triangle: justice to the victim, justice to the accused and justice to the society whose norm is desecrated. There must be justice to all. Gbade Adegoke must be stopped in his campaign of calumny to smear Chief Adedoyin’s name.
“If they have nothing to hide, they should make themselves available for the autopsy to be conducted so that the whole world will know the truth.”
Abiodun appealed to Osun State Police Commissioner, Wale Olokode, to “display the highest professionalism in this matter and act according to the evidence and facts already established before the Police and not what rumour mongers are spreading and be fair to all the parties.”
We were not informed about autopsy, says family’s lawyer
Counsel to the Adegokes, Mr Babarinde Samson,denied that the family was informed about any autopsy scheduled for Friday.
His words: “We were on our way to Osogbo yesterday (Friday) when the police informed us that they would carry out an autopsy on Adegoke on Friday. We demanded that we must have a pathologist from the family who must be part of the process.
“We told them that the autopsy should not be carried out without our pathologist on ground. “This is very important to our case. We arrived at the Police command around 2 PM. We met with the Commissioner of Police on Friday and he said he was just informed that an autopsy should be conducted on Friday.
“It doesn’t make any sense to carry out autopsy without family representation. They informed us around 1 PM yesterday and we kicked against that.”
Thirty-seven year-old Adegoke had travelled from his base in Abuja to Ile-Ife on Friday ,November 5 to write his last examination.
The late Director of Finance at Xiamien Stone Limited, Abuja, according to investigation, flew from Abuja to Akure in Ondo State. His plane landed in the Ondo State capital at 3pm.
He then proceeded to Ile-Ife by road, hitting town at about 4.45pm.
He chose to lodge at Hilton Hotel and Resort located on the Ife-Ibadan expressway opposite Ife Central Local Government Area secretariat ,booking for a deluxe suite at N18,500 per night for two nights.
Meanwhile, the management of the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital (OAUTHC), has denied that the corpse of Mr Timothy Adegoke who died mysteriously at Hilton Hotel and Resort, Ile-Ife was deposited in their morgue.
Police spokesperson, SP Yemisi Opalola, had claimed that the remains of Adegoke were deposited in OAUTHC after it was exhumed.
A statement by the management through the Public Relations Officer, Kemi Fasooto, titled, ‘Disclaimer on the Current Case of Timothy Adegoke’, read, “The attention of the Management of the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex, Ile-Ife, has been drawn to claim that the body of Timothy Adegoke was brought to the morgue of the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex for autopsy. Please we want to state that the body of the deceased was never deposited in our hospital for any coroner case.”
Police spokesperson, Yemisi Opalola, in a 46 seconds video made available to The Nation on Saturday night, retracted the information she provided earlier. Speaking in Yoruba language, she said: “I want to state it categorically that the remains of Timothy Adegoke was deposited in Osun State University Teaching Hospital and not in OAUTCH.
“We (Police) are not covering any facts about this matter.”
