According to what Punch Newspaper reported, on Aug. 12, 2012, CRIME
DIGEST reported that popular singer, David 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 andapologise 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.
Culled from Punch Newspaper
