You know last month a taxi driver alleged he was assaulted by Popular
singer, David Adeleke, aka Davido.Davido's publicist denied the
allegations via an email.
According to the punch newspapers
Apparently,the police have been conducting investigations Bashiru Azeez,
the employer of the taxi driver, whose name is Femi Ajibola, said
Davido said that the taxi driver was assaulted by his cousins.
Azeez confirmed that he gave a Toyota Corolla to Ajibola on hire
purchase. “I gave it out to him on hire purchase. When Ajibola initially
told me about this matter, I did not believe him. Later, I went to
Beni’s Apartment in company with Sgt. Nuru Umar, who is the
Investigating Police Officer, and we found out that he was right.
“We went to the DPO and he called Davido’s father after I took time to explain who the boy was,” Azeez said.
Immediately after the story was published, the young woman who was
conveyed in the cab to see Davido allegedly threatened Ajibola at the
taxi park where he operates.
“I got a call from Ajibola that Susan allgedly went to the park to
threaten him. She said that if he was claiming that he lost N100,000
during the incident with Davido, she would pay the money. Then she asked
if the cab driver had forgotten that she lost her cell-phone, which was
valued at N175,000.
“She said that Ajibola would have to produce her phone because he was
the one that took them to the hotel in his cab. She added that she would
deal with him,” he said.
The car dealer said he had advised his employee to report the matter at the nearest police station.
However, since the case had initially been reported at the Bar Beach
Police Station, Ajibola was directed to go and lodge his complaint
there.
Azeez said, “Ajibola went to Maroko Police Station, but he was directed
to the Bar Beach Police Station because he had already reported the case
there.”
Azeez said that a petition had been written on his behalf to the
Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of Zone 2 about the
incident. He stated that somehow, the Adelekes got wind of this and
contacted him for a meeting.
“A lawyer, Malachy Ukwamadu, wrote a petition on our behalf to the AIG
Zone 2. We had written the petition even before the publication.
Somehow, the Adeleke family got to know that we had written a petition
and they got someone to ask me to come with Ajibola to the Bar Beach
Police Station. They said they would bring Davido to the station. The
boy had surrendered himself and the police were ready to prosecute him.
It was hard to believe, but I was optimistic,” the car dealer said.
Azeez said he was advised not to honour the invitation by a policeman
who warned that the case might be tilted to the advantage of Davido.
“The policeman warned that there was an ulterior motive behind the
invitation. He said the moment that Ajibola stepped into the Bar Beach
Police Station, the case would change and turn against him.
“This prompted us to invite a lawyer to go to the station instead of
Ajibola. Ukwamadu was out of town. So, we invited Bar. Ademola Olamide.
While we waited for them to bring Davido, the IPO told the lawyer that
they wanted to negotiate.
“Olamide said that he thought they wanted to bring in Davido and why was
it that it was the police that wanted to negotiate. Should they not be
neutral?” Azeez said.
The lawyer insisted he would not talk to the police unless they brought
Davido to the station. The IPO then phoned somebody who spoke with
Olamide and agreed to meet him.
When meeting took place on Aug. 12, the lawyer informed Azeez that the
picture painted by Davido was different from what he had learnt from the
complainant.
Azeez said, “I was asked to come over to explain. Fortunately, we had
our witness. While the counsel was disputing what we said, we called in
the witness. He is a driver and he drove along with Ajibola; he had some
guys in his vehicle and I learnt that those girls brought those guys.
“When we brought in our witness, they calmed down. Davido then said that
he was not the one that assaulted Ajibola. He said that the guys we
were claiming were his bodyguards were actually his cousins. He said
that it was Bayo, one of his cousins, who beat up Ajibola.”
Suspecting a foul play somewhere, Azeez asked what business Bayo had with Susan since she was Davido’s girlfriend.
“We told him that from his conversation, Susan was his girlfriend and
why would Bayo beat up Susan? At a point, they said that they would like
to compensate Ajibola and that they wanted to know how much Ajibola
made in a day.
“They said that they would pay two weeks’ earnings. I was not there when
they were discussing the money issue. I told my lawyer that there was
no basis for compensation since he denied assaulting Ajibola. I said he
should produce those who beat up Ajibola, that the police should do
their job and we would know what step to take from there,” he said.
Azeez told CRIME DIGEST that Ajibola’s car keys had not been returned to
him. He said that an agency that fights for the cause of the less
privileged had contacted him and was ready to help out in the matter.
“The agency champions the cause of the less privileged and they are
willing to assist us in seeking justice. Davido claims he was not the
one that assaulted the driver; but how did he get hold of the car keys
before handing it to his father and later, the DPO?
“Why would he take someone’s car keys and keep them? Up till now, nobody
has confirmed if Davido has written any statement regarding this case.
We still believe that he is above the law until he comes out to say his
own part of the story. If at all we agree to negotiate with him, he
should accept that he was wrong to have assaulted a man that is 16 years
older than him and apologise for his behaviour. Then we will know what
to do from there,” he said.
When CRIME DIGEST contacted Susan on the phone, a male voice answered
the call, claiming it was a wrong number. However, Obaeze, Davido’s
publicist, maintained that her client knew nothing about the incident.
In an e-mail to CRIME DIGEST, the publicist wrote, “Thanks for your
enquiry and effort to get our own side of the story, but our previous
statement (still) stands. Davido was neither aware of nor involved in
any incident involving the assault of a taxi driver or the illegal
seizure of his keys. He does not condone violence in any form and will
not be commenting further on this matter.”
The Police Public Relations Officer, Zone 2 Police Command, Femi
Balogun, confirmed that the case was being handled by his command.
Mr Balogun said the AIG had ordered that Davido should be brought before
him with the Toyota Corolla used as taxi. He said they did not know
where Davido is and he would be arrested once they have information on
his whereabouts.
CULLED:Punch
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