Controversy trails death of businessman as family fingers wife

…Police accused of shaddy investigation

The death of a businessman, Mr Segun Oyedepo on December 30, 3017, at the Iju-Ishaga area of Lagos State has generated a lot of tension and suspicion among his family members and his wife, Mrs. Suliyat Oyedepo.

While Segun’s family accused

Suliyat 24, a hairdresser of being masterminding his death, Suliyat’s family countered, insisting that the deceased was killed by a hit and run driver.

Puzzling was the discovery made by Segun’s family that just days after he died, money mysteriously started disappearing from his bank account.

A close investigation was allegedly carried out by Segun elder’s brother, Oyetunji, 35, a banker. Oyetunji alleged that he discovered that Suliyat was the person that had been withdrawing money from his late brother’s account. Oyetunji believed that Segun was killed somewhere and later dragged to the road.

Suliyat was also accused of sneaking into Segun’s home to move property.

Segun 32 was alleged to have been murdered by Suliyat, her elder brother, Hammed and her sister Islamiat. They were alleged to have carried out the deed because they wanted to get their hands on his money and property. Incidentally, Suliyat has a four-year-old son for Segun.

It was gathered that before Segun died, his six years old marriage to Suliyat had been witnessing a lot of turbulences, leading to separation.

In another twist to the story, our correspondent gathered that a day before his death, Segun marked his wife’s birthday.

The grieving father of Segun, John Oyedepo, 71, alleged that it was as a result of a huge sum of money, which Suliyat saw in Segun’s possession before and after the birthday party that made her to allegedly conspire with her siblings to kill Segun.

John explained that Suliyat went to visit his son on December 29 and spent the night in his house. On December 30, around 5am, the late Segun called his mother, asking her to commit him into prayers.

John said: “Three hours later, Suliyat’s elder brother, Hammed called my wife, claiming that my son had a minor accident. My wife left Osun State and embarked on a journey to Lagos State. She got to Lagos, to discover that our son was dead. When Suliyat was asked how he died, she couldn’t give any reasonable response.

“We later discovered that a case of road accident was reported at the Red House Police Station, Iju Ishaga by Suliyat. She claimed road accident to cover up the murder of her husband. At the police station, she told different stories about how Segun died.”

John noted that shortly after the burial of Segun, Suliyat went to his home and allegedly removed some items, including bags and envelops believed to contain money and valuables.

John also accused the police of carrying out shoddy investigations. He explained that the Investigating Police Officer (IPO), a woman called Inspector Tutu, didn’t take time to examine Suliyat’s statement.

“The police woman and her bosses coerced me to go and bury son. The police threatened to detain me if I failed to comply with their instruction to bury my son and withdrew the case; this I did under duress and intense pressure from the IPO purportedly acting on her boss’s instructions,” said John.

John further said: “The following questions are begging for answers; if it’s true that my son called his mother on December 30^th around 5am, why would the Suliyat claimed that the accident occurred by 4.30am. Where was Suliyat on the night of    29^th and morning of December 30^th? Who was the driver of the alleged vehicle that hit Segun? Where was Hammed and Islamist during and after the accident? What is the make and registration number of the said car that hit and killed Segun?  Did the police demand that post mortem examination be conducted on the corpse to ascertain cause of death? We’re demanding that police higher authority should investigate all these and unravel the mystery surrounding Segun’s death.”

Reacting to the myriad of allegations against him, Suliyat and Islamiat, Hammed said that the case was taken to the police. He noted that after investigation, Suliyat was exonerated. He revealed that Segun and Suliyat were on a motorbike on that fateful day, when a car rammed into them from behind, leading to Segun’s death.

His words: “Police went to the place where the accident happened and asked people living around the place questions. In fact, somebody came out to testify that they saw when Segun was hit by a vehicle from behind.  Police was there last week Wednesday.”

According to Hammed, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of Iju Police Station (Red House Police Station) or the IPO didn’t force John to withdraw the case.

Hammed said: “The DPO told them that the station couldn’t handle such a case; he advised them to go to the State Criminal Investigations Department (SCID), Panti, Yaba. They were the ones that said they were not interested in going further with the case. This same family called the Oba in the area to beg the DPO that they were not interested in making a case. After a few days, they wrote a petition to the SCID.  We were invited, and we all went there. The police told us that they would investigate the matter. The police went to where the accident happened with all of us. They took photos at the scene and asked questions from residents. Some of the residents came out to testify that it was accident that caused Segun’s death.”

He noted that Suliyat was legally married to Segun, stressing that they had traditional and church wedding, thus Suliyat is Segun’s legal wife.

Speaking on the couple’s separation, Hammed said: “Segun’s parents didn’t want the marriage to continue. Suliyat and Segun told them that they were not living together because that was what they wanted to hear. But they were living together because Segun loved Suliyat and even after the incident, police went to the house and confirmed that they were living together as husband and wife with their son.”

Hammed continued: “They lied that Red House Police Station took bribe from us. They said that we conspired and killed their son. If we are guilty, why did the police not detain us?”

Hammed also shed light on the money alleged to have disappeared from Segun’s account after his death.

His words: “Traditionally in Yoruba land; if a woman’s husband died that way, the woman has to stay indoors for four months and 10 days. The couple has a son. My sister went and withdrew money because she knew she wouldn’t come out or go anywhere for months. She has to mourn her death husband.”

When our correspondent on Wednesday, questioned the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Chike Oti, about the case and the allegations against Red House Police Station, he responded that he was aware of the incident. He promised to investigate the matter and get back to our correspondent. But as at press time, he was yet to do so.