BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
Two operatives of the Department of State Security in Osun State Command have denied alleged involvement in the fight that led to the death of a Police Corporal in the state, Rauf Fawale.
Fawale was said to have been beaten to a coma in the midnight of January 14, 2021 after a fight broke out at a birthday party at Riverside Bar & Lounge, Osogbo by David Olowoporoku, a DSS operative in the state and two of his colleagues.
But at a Coroner’s Inquest investigating circumstances that led to the death of Fawale, two operatives of the secret police identified as Ajanaku and Bamidele Mustapha, while giving testimonies, said, though, they were at the bar the night the incident happened, they never participated in the birthday and neither did they brawl with the deceased.
Ajanaku said he was at the bar to catch fun alongside Mustapha and that they left there around 10:00pm on January 14, 2021.
He said, “I left the bar with Mustapha because he was supposed to be on night duty. When it was around 11:00pm, I received a call from David Olowoporoku, asking me where I was, I told him I was at home. When it was around 12am to 1am, I received another call from another colleague, he said David Olowoporoku was in trouble and needed financial assistance. Immediately, I called him (Olowoporoku) to confirm it, I decided to send the sum of N7, 000 to the account.
“I later got a call in my office that David dropped N7,000 for me with the desk writer and I asked what happened, he said David was seriously injured and that at that moment, David was at the clinic, receiving treatment, that David was beaten by some people who mistook him to be one of the hoodlums who disrupted the birthday party. I visited him at the clinic on Monday and I saw bruises on his head.”
Also giving his testimony, Mustapha said he was aware there was a birthday at the bar but he didn’t partake.
He said he got to be aware of Fawale’s ordeal in the media.
He said, “I went with Ajanaku to the Riverside bar to have fun. On getting there, Ajanaku said he sighted David and that we should go and meet David upstairs. But we later left him there because I was supposed to be on duty that night. I was aware some people were celebrating a birthday inside the VIP lounge. I returned to the office and around 12 to 1am, a senior colleague phoned me that David needed my financial help. I sent N5k to David’s account after borrowing 3k from a friend. The desk writer later called me to inform me that David dropped N5k for me.
“I later heard that he (David) was alleged to have killed Mr. Rauf Fawale. I read it in a newspaper. I asked David about it four months ago. He said he was treated like a hoodlum by the police despite telling them that he was a DSS officer. That he was beaten, that the Police held him and some hoodlums before they went to the hospital.”
A neurosurgeon at Esho Brain and Spine Centre, Ilesa Garage, Osogbo, Taofeek Rabiu also gave testimony on how he carried out surgery on Fawale and removed blood clot in his brain after he was attacked.
Rabiu said, “he (Fawale) was brought to our centre by his relation on 17th January, 2021. He was alleged to have been attacked by some hoodlums three days earlier. I was told that he was initially taken to UNIOSUN Teaching Hospital and on the following day, discharged himself against medical advice. He went back to the same hospital on 16th January, 2021. Following a brain scan that he did, his relation brought him to our centre for monosurgical therapy. We had evidence of severe injury and the CTC scan that he did before coming to us showed that he had multiple injuries on both side. So, we had a brain surgery to remove the blood cloth. On the night of January 23, 2021, he died around 10:00pm.”
Magistrate Olusegun Ayilara who is heading the coroner ordered Mustapha and Ajanaku to make available their bank statements for the month of January, 2021 and adjourned sitting till Wednesday for a continuation of the hearing.
