Adeleke, aka Davido, allegedly assaulted a taxi driver in Lagos and that his publicist, Valerie Obaeze, claimed via an e-mail that the singer knew nothing about the incident.
In a related development, Hashiru Azeez, the employer of the taxi driver, whose name is Femi Ajibola, told CRIME DIGEST that Davido himself 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. He said that 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 picked up once they have information on his whereabouts.
-Punch Nigeria
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
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