THE ADEDOYIN I KNOW BEFORE YOU RECOMMEND GUILLOTINE - By Samson Adelugba

Samson Adelugba

Dr. Ramon Adedoyin

I have immense respect for the sanctity of human life; both young and old regardless of social status and I do not pray that the fate that befell the family of late Adegoke Timothy befalls anyone close to me. One needs to see the aged woman he left behind, I doubt if she had taken any substance since the reality dawned on her that her beloved son, the bread winner of the family is never to be seen again. 

The tragedy was one incident too many and only God Almighty could grant the bereaved family, the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss. Sad is indeed an understatement. It is really pitiful and painful. How would the wife cope with three kids living with the trauma of the circumstances surrounding the death of her partner, a co-pilot who knew the destination better. 

Everything now lies on her shoulders, in few months time, the public would be busy with another trending topic but the wife will continue to live with the good-old-days memory of her husband. God! Please send help to her, console her and keep her kids to fulfill their purpose in life even with the absence of their Dad.

Since the news hit the public space, I have been busy like many other Nigerians, especially those of us who truly want justice following the trend of events. I have seen logic, I have seen sensationalization, I have seen fabrication, I have seen emotion, I have seen sentiment, I have seen hate and I have seen love but I have not seen the conclusion of the case as we all await the result of the investigation of the police - the most authentic and reliable to truly unravel the mystery that surrounded the untimely death of this rising star. 

But I am pressed to make some clarifications at this point. Because despite the fact that the case is before the police and the public continue to draw their conclusions hiding under freedom of expression, I think I am therefore equally covered to hide under the same clause of the constitution to make my positions under the following headings:

I) ADEDOYIN'S SOURCE OF WEALTH IS TRACEABLE

ii) THE EXTENT OF ADEDOYIN'S INVOLVEMENT

iii) THE PROFILE AND CIRCUMSTANCES SURROUNDING THE DEATH OF ADEGOKE TIMOTHY 

iv) THE ALLEGED RECORD OF RITUAL KILLINGS 

v) THE MANY FABRICATIONS AND ASSUMPTIONS

v) LIKELY NEGATIVE REMARKS FROM ILE IFE

Adedoyin's Source of Wealth is Traceable

Many of us in Ile Ife and even beyond could attest to Adedoyin's chronological progression of wealth acquisition, one would not forget the popularity of Universal Tutorial College floated around 1984 which later metamorphosed into Universal College of Technology in 1994. This is a ten years of growth of business. During this period, students were paying around #5,000 even when some civil servants received less than #2,000 monthly pay at the time. 

Again, Universal College grew to become The Polytechnic, Ile Ife in 2008, and this is another fourteen years of metamorphosis. At this period, students were paying an average of #27,000 with a capacity of about three thousand students. Tabulation of this fee per student as at then will give us a whooping sum of #81,000,000 which is to be paid twice a session. Meanwhile, the figure here doesn't cover other payments like accommodation, clearance, acceptance, collection of certificate among others.Then the polytechnic gave birth to Hilton Hotel and many other huge investments before Oduduwa University was established in 2009. 

At Oduduwa University where students pay an average of #200,000, adding accommodation and other charges, no student drops less than #250,000 per semester and this gives #500,000 per student and Oduduwa University at the moment is not less than five thousand students in population. In a session, Adedoyin conveniently makes 2.5 billion naira on Oduduwa University alone. Please, note that he pays taxes and run expenses. At the moment, Adedoyin has a chain of business within and without Nigeria. 

All the above figures are extracted from some souvenirs and handout in my archive and I decided to belabour the topic because of the insinuation, "Owo Eje" which is being promoted by some unscrupulous elements on our uncensored social media platforms.

The Profile and Circumstances

Surrounding the Death of Adegoke Timothy

The late Adegoke Timothy according to his brother in the video released by Oriyomi Hamzat was the bread winner of the family, a rising star of Eruwa community. When you hear director of finance of a multinational company and an MBA student and a father of three who only came to write exams in OAU missing and found in an undignified shallow grave or bush, you won't but request Adedoyin's head immediately. 

It takes a critical and extra ordinarily patient person to think Adedoyin deserves the element of the doubt. I personally feel sad and troubled because of the fate of the family left behind. It was really a messy development. The video of his aged parents and that of the wife who was ceaselessly crying would take tears from anyone's eyes no matter how callous. November 2021 would remain evergreen in the memory of the family members, friends and associates. 

The Extent of Adedoyin's Involvement

From all confessions made so far including the most celebrated and sensationalized one by Hamzat Oriyomi, Adedoyin was only involved when the deed had been done. The brother of the deceased explained that when he met with Adedoyin that he (Adedoyin) was saying "sorry my brother, take it easy" and was trying to bribe him. 

The best Adedoyin could have done or attempted like every mortal would do was what he did - trying to beg the brother not to magnify the case for the sake of his name because he knew the enormity of the crime his workers had committed buy killing or burying a lodger who had died naturally without informing appropriate authority. If not for the loyalty of the brother to the womb he shared with his deceased brother, he would have settled for millions and compromised, don't tell me there wouldn't have been cases like this. 

Adedoyin also denied that the man never lodged in their facility because the workers had perfected the list of lodgers before Adedoyin came into the picture, coupled with the fact that the deceased didn't pay directly into the Wema Bank account of the hotel but into the account of the receptionist. May be because the workers who didn't pay in Mr Timothy's money into the hotels account found it difficult to notify the management of the ugly incident where the young promising guy had lost his life then opted for the ugliest option by disposing off his body like a tissue paper. 

Absurd is an understatement! Another information according to The Nation Online has it that Adedoyin's son was briefed when the issue occured and he gave the directive to the workers to dispose off the body and supervised same. Nothing can be said to be more reckless and unthoughtful than this. From all indication, it is a mere principle of "Adedoyin owns the business, owns the profit and he must own the headache.

Alleged Records of Ritual Killings 

Until this ugly news of Timothy broke out, as far as I know as an indigen of Ile Ife in his 40's I have never heard of ritual killings traceable to Adedoyin. Not even offering of sacrifices which is often the case with some rich men. A scholar once said, "if you want to know how your father met your mother, contest an election." The man Adedoyin contested the stool of the Ooni of Ife, and I must say it was keenly contested amidst many controversies trailing each contestant's profile. It was the best time to dig anyone's ugly past to shut him out of the race. 

Anyone who could have engaged in any nefarious acts with Adedoyin in the past could have betrayed him for millions of naira during this period but nothing of such ever happened. If there is anything anyone could have against Adedoyin beyond personal issue, it cannot be more than his pride - "the only man with five higher institutions, the Billionaire of our time and bla bla bla..." Stuffs like this can be oppressive and harassing to some people. For me, let anyone go to the roof top to blow his trumpet, I feel no intimidation. 

Though, this is not to say I am oblivious of the fact that humans are not killed for money rituals alone. Other reasons and purposes abound. But those who have been making various assertions on social media can use this golden opportunity to substantiate their claim against Adedoyin on other related criminal acts so that the supposed criminality can be nipped in the bud once and for all, but their failure to do is nothing but a deliberate attempt to incite the public and the authority handling the matter to draw a hasty conclusion even when the matter is still being investigated.

The Many Fabrications and Assumptions

For those who have been keenly following the latest story of Timothy Adegoke, you would agree that many spurious claims - unfounded and unsubstantiated have been made. One, the name Alfa who was caught with the mobile phone of the deceased aggravated the whole saga as it was believed the Alfa was a ritualist who handled and supervised the killing in Ejigbo. But it was after few days the public got to know the manager is the one known as Alfa who hails from Ejigbo. He had done away with the phone of the deceased and traveled to his home town, Ejigbo. 

Secondly, another writer had written that the deceased body had been dismembered, with this, the public went gaga and concluded Adedoyin should be immediately hanged without wasting time but the exhumation of his corpse invalidated this fabrication. In the same vein, other writers claimed that within the hotel compound where Adegoke's corpse was exhumed, that there were signs of burial grounds and that the "criminal" confessed that they had been about six similar cases.

But it was surprising that the corpse was discovered about two kilometers away from the hotel location according to credible news source. Some writers, bloggers and presenters also claimed the lady receptionist is on a monthly salary of #200,000:00 (two hundred thousand naira) when in actual fact the lady only receives #25,000 (twenty thousand naira). The implication of this is to leave the public to begin to guess what could make an ordinary receptionist to be receiving such a fat salary if not for criminal conspiracy with her boss, Adedoyin. 

The sensationalization of this jumbo salary further triggered public anger. The above and many other fabrications and speculations gave birth to serious animosity against Adedoyin, even those who love him could not publicly stand with him. They were embarrassed and disappointed but the later revelation left many dumbfounded as to the enormity of the expensiveness of the many fabrications Nigerians are fond making. 

Another straw that broke the camel's back was the press briefing by the police that the body of the deceased was at OAUTHC and the subsequent disclaimer from the authority stating otherwise. From the information I gathered, the body was to be taken to OAUTHC but knowing fully well result from any hospital from Ile Ife may not be satisfactory, more so that Adedoyin happens to be one of the major donors to the hospital. So, those involved took the body to UNIOSUN hospital. But may be the police was not properly briefed. This singular act of misinformation spurred very serious reactions. 

Likely Negative Remarks From Ile Ife

There have been some remarks and conclusions by many individuals on the extent of culpability of Adedoyin with no exception to people from his home town, Ile Ife. And I must say such do not in any way represent the position of Ife people. Chief Dr Ramon Adedoyin remains an illustrious son of the soil, one man who has made Ife proud with excellent record in business world, one whose patriotism to his home town is second to none. We will stand with and by him until we are disappointed by the outcome of this ugly case. We will be magnanimous to accept we are wrong and then join the world to crucify him. 

Therefore, I want to appeal to all crisis-happy social and public commentators to wait for the outcome of the findings of the police. Anyone writing or making secret calls to further incriminate Adedoyin may have personal scores to settle with him, Chief among their grievances might be the refusal of Adedoyin to throw his money around. The man is so stingy has been their remarks as if he doesn't have the right to determine who merits his gesture. At the moment, he is the highest employer of labour in Ile Ife. Call his employment any name, yet hundreds of families depend on him for survival. His going down will not make anyone to rise except those destined to rise notwithstanding.

Once again, I sympathize with the family of the deceased and I wish that God Almighty console and stand with them to weather this very harsh storm. Though the awaited result of police investigation will not bring back Mr Timothy Adegoke, but it will put their spirit at peace with that of the deceased that they stood by him even his absence. May God keep the rest of the family, and the rest of us.

Samson Adelugba can be reached via email: [email protected]