Wife seeks prosecution of APC stalwart over death of 33-year-old husband in Edo

A nursing mother of a two-month-old baby, Esther Osaghae, has appealed to Nigeria’s Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, and the general public to help her unravel the mystery surrounding the death of her 33-year-old husband, Fidelis Osaghae.

Mrs Osaghae said her husband died mysteriously at work in the early hours of Monday, 29 July, noting that the deceased’s boss, Valentine Oyemike, only called her to see the corpse of Mr Osaghae, who only left home hale and hearty less than four hours before his death.

The widow spoke on Tuesday during a press briefing organised by the Akin Fadeyi Foundation (AFF), a non-governmental organisation working on the matter.

Until his death, Mr Osaghae worked as a manager at Valchi Fast Food and Bar, Angle 90 branch, Auchi, Edo State. Mr Oyemike owns the company.

Mrs Osaghae alleged that the employer, Mr Oyemike, a candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 House of Assembly election in Delta State, is yet to come clean on the circumstances surrounding the death of her husband.

She also accused the Auchi Division of Edo State Police Command of poor handling of the matter, saying more than ten days after the incident, the police were yet to make an arrest.

Meanwhile, AFF has petitioned the police headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city, requesting that the IGP, Mr Egbetokun, “take over this matter and bring it to a just conclusion.”

A copy of the acknowledged petition, which was signed by AFF’s Executive Director, Akin Fadeyi, and obtained by PREMIUM TIMES, noted that the Auchi police division isn’t trusted to handle the case, as they were “quick to jump to conclusions by exonerating Mr Oyemike from being a part of the death of Mr Osaghae.”

“That Mr Valentine is an influential person within Auchi, Edo State, and therefore we are not able to risk our vote of confidence in the investigation of the death of Mr Osaghae within such jurisdiction for fear of interference and compromise,” the petition reads in part.

However, the Edo State Police Command has said the matter has been transferred to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) “for further investigations.”

But Mr Oyemike declined to comment, saying the police were already conducting investigations.

Family gives account

Giving her account, Mr Osaghae’s widow said her husband was never suicidal and that he was used to coming home late in the night because of the nature of his job.

She said on that particular midnight, her husband hurriedly came home by bike around 2:30 a.m. from his workplace, which is said to be a distance of about a 15-minute drive from their home, to take “something” back to work for his boss.

The deceased reportedly dashed out almost immediately, telling the wife not to lock their door and that he would be back soon.

She said: “I started calling my husband’s phone after a while, but he wasn’t answering his calls. At about 5:00 a.m., when I woke up, I still didn’t see my husband beside me because I didn’t lock the door. I started calling again but I was unable to reach him.

“I decided to call his colleague, Tracey, who is also a supervisor at the place. She eventually picked up after calling several times. She started calling Mana! Mana! Abbreviation for Manager and hung up.

“I called her again severally until she picked up and said that “everything is under control” and ended the call.”

Despite several attempts to reach Tracey, Mrs Osaghae said she was unable to get through to her or her husband until later, at about 6:00 a.m., when the employer, Mr Oyemike, called her to come to Favour Hospital, Afasho, in Edo State.

Being a nursing mother, her elder sister, identified simply as Etomi, who was with the wife at home, opted to go to the hospital, but on reaching the hospital, she met the corpse of Mr Osaghae in the car of Mr Oyemike because he was said to have been brought in dead to the hospital (BID).

At the press briefing, a photo of the corpse showed strange marks and injuries on the body of the deceased, which Mr Fadeyi suggests may have been as a result of the torture and pain inflicted on the deceased before he passed on.

AFF’s petition

AFF highlighted in the petition that based on the pictorial evidence and the account of the family, “we strongly believe Mr Osaghae was in the custody of Mr Oyemike until his death.”

The petition reads further: “That since this incident occurred Mr Oyemike has been walking freely, and the DPO of the Auchi division, Edo State, has not demonstrated any willingness to take necessary actions toward addressing the matter of this suspicious homicide.

“That based on this trajectory, it is clear to us that the events surrounding the death of Mr Fidelis are suspicious.”

Mr Fadeyi said his organisation believes there is a presumption of innocence until proven guilty before the law in Nigeria and that such belief informed the decision to request the IGP to take over the case.

“We do not have confidence in Edo State Police Command, and that is why the case was asked to be transferred to Abuja. We want the authority to do their job, we trust the confidence of the police to get to the root of the matter. We don’t wish to live in such a where justice will be denied,” Mr Fadeyi told journalists.

“We believe in the capacity of the Nigerian police to get justice for Mrs Esther and we are willing to provide the necessary support in this regard. We look forward to a speedy investigation and appropriate action to address this injustice,” he noted.

Company, police speak

When PREMIUM TIMES contacted Mr Oyemike on Tuesday, he admitted Mr Osaghae was his employee.

He, however, said he wouldn’t be commenting on the matter because the police were handling it and that it might eventually end up in court, and he hung up the call.

“The case is under investigation by the police and I won’t be able to say anything. It is currently under investigation and I am sure a court case will be the next thing. It will definitely end in the court for them to have gone this far,” he said.

While the family told journalists the matter should be prosecuted, the Divisional Crime Officer of the Auchi Police Division, Abel Oguntula, in his comments, said the father of the deceased said as Jehovah’s witnesses, “they wouldn’t want the matter investigated because they have accepted fate.”

“We tried to convince them to allow us to investigate, but they said no and we have had similar cases like that where relatives say they don’t want investigation,” Mr Oguntula told PREMIUM TIMES.

Meanwhile, the new Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the police force in Edo state, Joel Moses, said he would get details of the case and revert before noon. When PREMIUM TIMES called back, Mr Joel said: “a press release would be out shortly.”

While Mr Moses could not send the statement, he simply said a terse message: “The matter has been transferred to the State CID for further investigation. The outcome will be made known as soon as the investigation is concluded please.”