Ibadan school principal’s corpse found in gutter

THE principal of Ijokodo Junior Secondary School 1, Ibadan, Oyo State Mr Segun Dare, was on Wednesday, found dead along the street to his home at Citaga area, Sango-Eleyele road, several hours after he didn’t turn up at home as expected.
Mr Dare, who left home in the evening of the previous day, was discovered face down in a gutter, with his mobile handset in his pocket while a polythene bag containing soup ingredients like fish and pepper was also found beside him.
Saturday Tribune gathered that the deceased left his home in the afternoon of Tuesday, September 3, to go to a first generation bank along Sango-Eleyele road but could not do what he intended doing there as he got there late.
He was said to have attempted to use the influence of one of his friends in the bank but was unsuccessful as the friend told him he could not help.
Mr Dare reportedly called his wife and told her that he did not achieve his objective, informing her that he was returning home immediately.
A reliable source who spoke with Saturday Tribune under the condition of anonymity said the man did not turn up at home as he promised, and when it was about 40 minutes after, his wife called his number to know his whereabouts.
To her surprise, a strange voice answered the call, telling her to get off the line as her husband was busy and would call her later.
Not too long after, the voice called to inform her that she could call her husband if she wished but her attempts at speaking with the deceased failed as her calls went unanswered.
The wife was said to have raised a search party which went round without locating the principal until late into Tuesday night.
The search party continued the following morning when his body was discovered.
Since the discovery of the principal’s body, there had been speculations that he was probably killed by some hoodlums who had been going to the school compound to smoke Indian hemp.
The source told Saturday Tribune that some of the hoodlums were sighted in the school smoking Indian hemp about nine weeks ago, when the Senior Secondary School students were sitting for their qualifying examination into SSS3 class.
They were reportedly chased away while they mounted waiting motorcycles parked around WAEC junction to escape.
Saturday Tribune further gathered that some hoodlums came back to the school a week after and disrupted the  examination on the final day.
The school was also said to have written a letter to the Ministry of Education to intimate the authorities of the disruption of the examination.
The late principal was supposed to retire from service in February, 2014.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer in Oyo State, Olabisi Okuwobi-Ilobanafor said that it’s a case of sudden and unnatural death.
“The body of the man was  found on Monday morning face down. It was taken to the morgue. We are waiting for autopsy to determine what actually killed him. It is too early to jump into a conclusion,” she said.
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