A
43-year-old man, Mr. Ajayi Oladele, has been allegedly tortured to death by
soldiers attached to the 4 Mechanised Brigade, Benin-City, Edo State, for his
alleged inability
to repay N1.5m he reportedly borrowed from his friend, Mr.
Kayode Adeosho, in January this year.
Oladele
allegedly died on Friday evening at the Warri Central Hospital where he was
rushed to for medical treatment after his health was said to have deteriorated.
It was
learnt that the deceased, a father of 3, was arrested by the soldiers on May 8,
2017 in Warri, where he lived with his family despite pleas by his family that
he had serious health challenges.
It was
gathered that the deceased was denied access to his drugs by the soldiers even
as his health deteriorated in their custody.
The bereaved
family through their lawyer, Mr. Kunle Ogheneovo Edun, confirmed the
development at a press conference in Warri on Saturday.
He accused
the soldiers of deliberately killing the breadwinner of the Oladeles over a
debt the family denied the deceased owed.
The lawyer
further said Oladele was chained to a bed in the Military Hospital in Benin
City where he was rushed to when his health condition became worse.
He said, “On
May 8, Oladele was arrested by the soldiers. On their way to Benin-City, he
pleaded with the soldiers to release him because he had a delicate health
condition that needed the constant use of his special drugs. The soldiers
refused and instead started beating him inside their vehicle.
“The
soldiers claimed they acted under the instruction of the commanding officer of
the 4 Mechanised Brigade. Upon arriving Benin-City, his health condition
worsened and the commanding officer of the military intelligence in the Brigade
said he would not be released until he pays the N1.5m.’’
Edun added
that an officer at the brigade, Sgt. Hassan Hassan, later called the family to
tell them to come to Benin City and get the Ekiti State-born Oladele on bail.
“On May 12,
our client and one Mr. Oladele accompanied with their solicitor decided to go
to Benin-City where the Commanding Officer, T. A Yakubu, reeled out the story
to them again. Yakubu said the doctors at the military hospital advised that
Oladele be taken out of the hospital for his personal doctors to attend to him.
“The
deceased was taken to his residence in Effurun where he spent over two hours
before taken to Ekpan General Hospital. He was rejected there before he was
thereafter taken to Central Hospital, Warri where he died 15 minutes later on
May 12,” he stated.
A referral
letter from the Military Hospital, Airport Road, Benin-City, signed by Dr.
Eghaoje C and addressed to the consultant physician, Central Hospital, Warri, a
copy of which was made available to Punch, indicated that Oladele had
multi-level traumatic spinal cord injury as a result of the alleged torture.
Edun called
on the authorities of the Nigerian Army to probe the killing to ensure that
Oladele’s killers were arrested and brought to justice.
Also, the
deceased’s wife, Esther, who could barely speak at the briefing, demanded
justice and also called on relevant authorities to investigate the matter and
bring the perpetrators to book.
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