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Davido Declared Wanted By The Police
Popular
singer, David Adeleke, aka Davido, once allegedly assaulted a taxi
driver in Lagos and his publicist, Valerie Obaeze, claimed 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, said that Davido himself said that the taxi
driver was assaulted by his cousins....continue reading
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 said 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 Susan was contacted 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 sent, 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.via Punch