MASQUERADE’S BLOODY INVASION OF OSOGBO MOSQUE: THE UPDATE
I (MULAN representative) on behalf of MULAN representing all concerned Muslim Groups with respect to the above headline was at the IGP-IRT office, Oke-Fia, Osogbo where the matter is being investigated. I am glad to report that the prime suspect in the person of Chief Kayode Idowu Esuleke is now in police custody for interrogation.
The Spiritual Head of Qomorudeen Islamic Society and some other eyewitnesses gave statements to the police, while Esuleke is being interrogated under caution at the time of this update. Before obtaining statements from the parties, the Commander interviewed the parties and their legal representatives were allowed to make representations.
I spoke for the Complainant while K. S. Abioye of counsel spoke for Chief Esuleke. The long and short of it was that even before taking Esuleke’s statement, the lawyer was already trying to lay a foundation for his bail, claiming that Esuleke just had spinal cord surgery, that he is seriously ill.
However, we were able to counter that from the interview, Esuleke confirmed being physically present at the scene, though in a car, to the extent that he alighted from the car while the ugly incident happened. That’s to buttress the fact that his acclaimed deteriorating health condition cannot avail him in this case of murder particularly at the police level, because participating actively in an Egungun festival requires agility, capacity, and sound health.
Being an active participant at the Egungun show, he’s only trying to feign ill health. We also took him up on his acclaimed warning to his followers that they should not carry arms, guns, machetes, and other dangerous weapons during the festival. We confronted him that the warning was a suggestion that his followers are viciously disposed of as potential wreckers of violence.
He claimed that they had 6 police details as escorts that day and that the Muslim Groups overpowered all the policemen, assaulted and harmed them all seriously. However, when we asked him whether any of the police officers reported at any hospital, he was dumbfounded. He claimed that one of his children was deeply macheted affecting his intestine, but said, when we asked, that his injured son is receiving treatment in an undisclosed private hospital.
The Commander immediately and right in our presence dispatched a team of policemen to the various hospitals where all the victims (from our side) are receiving treatments and to the UNIOSUN Teaching Hospital Mortuary to get the autopsy report and take a photograph of the deceased. In the end, Chief AbdulFattah Abdusalam Liberty joined me, we left with the complainants, our friend Ezra, Abu Jihad representing the Muslim Community, while Esuleke is now being held in police custody. Thanks learned seniors and colleagues.
Àbọ̀ wa rè é ooooo.
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