Couple detained over Oluwole Rotimi's wife's abduction

Oluwole Rotimi

OYO State Police Command has arrested a Lagos-based couple over the December 10, 2012 abduction in Ibadan of the wife of Brigadier-General Oluwole Rotimi (rtd), Mrs Titilayo Oluwole Rotimi.

Though the abducted woman has been released and flown overseas, the police said investigations were still ongoing, leading to the arrest of Mr. Matthew Adubi Adekiya and Mrs Ruth Yemisi Adekiya.

The couple were being detained at the anti-robbery section of the command in Iyaganku, Ibadan as at press time yesterday.

Ruth, Nigerian Compass gathered, lived with the abducted woman and was trained by her till she got married to Mathew Adekiya in Lagos.

She was said to have gone to Ibadan on Tuesday to sympathise with the Rotimi family upon hearing that her former guardian had been released after about two weeks.

On getting to Ibadan, Ruth was arrested and taken to the anti-robbery section of the command.

Her husband was also arrested in Lagos and detained along with her wife in Ibadan.
Speaking with the Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Ayodele Lanade, Nigerian Compass learnt that the couple are being detained based on investigation, which was still ongoing.

According to Lanade, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), "the suspects are still being investigated. Like I told you in the morning, I have been to the Iyaganku division, and I have confirmed that they were being investigated. If after investigation, they are found not to be culpable, they will simply be released.

"We had said it that irrespective of the fact that the abducted woman had been released, our investigations still continue. The Police Commissioner had said it that anyone found not connected with the crime would be released after interrogation," Lanade stressed while speaking on the phone with the Nigerian Compass yesterday evening.

Ten workers of Mrs Oluwole Rotimi had initially been arrested, among them, a nursing woman, who was granted bail to allow her take care of her baby.

According to the Police Commissioner, Mr Mbu Joseph Mbu, while speaking with journalists on Monday, the arrested suspects would be released because there was no nexus connecting them to the abduction.

Mrs. Oluwole Rotimi was abducted at Alakia at her haulage firm by some gun men in the evening of the day, while she was about going to her Agodi GRA residence.

It had been reported that her staff had complained of non-payment of their three months salary before the abduction.

Meanwhile, an Ibadan-based business woman operating at Oke Ado area of the city, has complained of high-handedness on the part of the state government, having been fined and forced to pay N250,000 each for two trucks, which the environmental enforcement officers alleged were parked on the road, obstructing traffic flow.

Mrs Funke Adeleye, Managing Director, Kollington Fishery, who has been in the business for the past 15 years, told the Nigerian Compass yesterday that despite her defence that the trucks marked KJA 493 XD and KJA 103 ZB did not obstruct flow of traffic, and that the penalty of half a million was too draconian, the Environment Commissioner, Mr Lowo Obisesan, insisted the amount must be paid because "even Governor Abiola Ajimobi can not bend the law".

Reacting to the allegation, however, the Commissioner for Environment and Habitat, said: "The story she told you was incorrect. Ignorance is not an excuse in law. Times without number, we had called them to meetings in our office, and we addressed a press conference and spelt it out that parking of vehicles on the road is now an offence. If she is saying that because we did not place the law on her door step, she is immune from the law, such is not an excuse. If any government makes a law, it is meant to be obeyed by its citizens," the Commissioner said.

It all happened on Thursday, 20th December, 2012 about 11 a.m after the usual weekly sanitation exercise had been complied with, when the officers zoomed on the premises, while the trucks were offloading fish.

According to the company's Logistic Officer, Mr Segun Osineye, "We had completed the sanitation exercise on the day when we saw the government officials harassing our staff, threatening to seal our office. They forced our two trailers to their office on allegation that they obstructed traffic. Despite our plea that we have always been monitoring the process of off-loading our fish, such that it does not affect traffic flow, they refused and drove off all our customers for the almost an hour that the embarrassment lasted. They said a new law forbade our offloading in front of our office and that we should be doing so only between 6 p.m and 6 a.m.

"I told them that harassment from hoodlums during the day would be a child's play if we should be offloading in the night, aside the overtime charge the vehicles owner would charge us if we hired it. The Commissioner said he would provide security for us in the night, but such is uncertain and we don't want to put the lives of our workers in jeopardy.

"For the past 15 years that we have been in this business, no government had ever treated us like this. My M.D even pleaded that the fine be reduced, afterall LASTMA in Lagos State charges N70,000 in case a truck breaks down on the road and is towed away. Why N250,000 fine on a truck when the vehicle did not break down? This is too killing," he said, displaying the WEMA bank teller dated 21st December, 2012 with which the N500,000 fine was paid.

Adding to the Logistic Officer's story, Mrs Adeleye said: "In Lagos State, the government reads out any laws, publishes them to ensure that everybody is aware of it before enforcement. No government official came to warn us or inform us of the so-called new law. We don't know where it was written or announced. When all my pleas did not move the Commissioner, I decided to go and pay the half a million fine because the goods in the trucks were perishable.

"How much profit do I make on a truck that I had to pay so much? This is draconian. I hope Oyo State people will help us out. I have never heard it where trucks are being arrested for offloading in the markets, and being forced to pay so much. This is very strange to us, when we are not enemies of the government," she lamented.

Having paid the fine, the woman said a letter was then written to her from the Ministry of Environment, asking her to apply for a permit, which would cover her offloading at the spot, pending accent by Governor Abiola Ajimobi.

A copy of the letter signed on behalf of the Commissioner by J.O. Oyewole, made available to our reporter, was dated 21st December, 2012.
Compass