DAVIDO In Police Custody For Reinvestigation Over Tagbo's Death

The Lagos State Police Command says the ace hip hop artiste, David Adeleke, aka Davido, is inconsistent in his statement on the death of his friend, Umeike Tagbo.

The command subsequently invited him again on Wednesday, although he was not allowed to talk to journalists.

PUNCH Metro learnt that Davido’s driver – Tunde Yusuf, and two friends of the artiste, Agbaje Olaoye and Idris Busari – who dumped Tagbo’s corpse on the premises of the Lagos Island General Hospital and fled had been arrested.

This is just as the autopsy carried out on the deceased revealed that he died of asphyxia (suffocation).

The state Acting Commissioner of Police, Edgar Imohimi, disclosed the development on Wednesday at the command’s headquarters in Ikeja.

Imohimi, added that the reports of the autopsies of two other Davido’s deceased friends – Olugbenga Abiodun, aka DJ Olu; and Chime Amaechina – were still being awaited.

Our correspondent had reported that Tagbo died at Shisha Bar in Lekki after allegedly taking 10 shots of Tequila. He died on Tuesday, October 3, 2017, which was his birthday.

Tagbo’s girlfriend, Caroline Danjuma, had discarded insinuations that he died of drunkenness and alleged that Davido ran away after dumping his corpse at the general hospital. But Davido denied the allegation.

As the controversy surrounding Tagbo’s death lingered, DJ Olu, and Amaechina, also died around 8pm on Saturday inside a BMW car parked at an underground garage on Banana Island, Lagos.

Substances suspected to be hard drugs were recovered from the car by policemen from the Ikoyi division.

Imohimi on Wednesday explained that when he met with Davido, Danjuma and  Shisha barman among others, last week, Davido said he was not aware that Tagbo’s corpse was dumped at the hospital.

He said the barman disclosed that Tagbo took 40 shots of Tequila and behaved violently after being drunk.

Edgar said, “The Chief Security Officer of the general hospital, Moshood Oparanti, alerted the Divisional Police Officer, Lion Building Police Station, that an unidentified man was brought in dead in an ash colour Toyota Camry with number plate, LSB 738 EL.

“The victim was alleged to have been brought by two unidentified males. The DPO who raced to the scene was able to identify the victim as one Umeike Tagbo from a passport found in the victim’s vehicle.

“I called for a pre-investigation meeting. In that meeting were all the parties, including family friends of the deceased, family and friends of Davido and Caroline Danjuma. The DPO and the Investigating Police Officer were also present.

“The meeting confirmed that the deceased on the date in question met and drank with friends, among who was Davido, at Shisha Bar. The barman, who was also present and who served them the drink, confirmed that the deceased had as much as 40 shots of Tequila and exhibited clear signs of drunkenness.

“The CCTV footage from the bar also showed that the deceased was quarrelsome and violent. In that meeting, Davido said he left Shisha Bar without the deceased to a night club known as DNA on the Victoria Island. He stated that he was only informed by some mutual friends of the victim’s death at the DNA club.”

The CP said further investigation, however, revealed that Davido actually directed his driver and friends to dump the corpse at the hospital.

He said the driver and the friends were in police custody while Davido was invited again for questioning.

“Investigation conducted into the incident clearly showed that one Tunde Yusuf, the driver of Davido’s escort vehicle, a white Toyota Hilux, accompanied by one Agbaje Olaoye and one Idris Busari –both Davido’s friends – took the deceased to the general hospital and abandoned him in his (Tagbo) vehicle on the instruction of Davido.

“The CCTV footage at the general hospital picked up the white Hilux vehicle and captured the entire activities. The vehicle was subsequently recovered from Davido’s residence at No. 7 Awosika Street, Lekki Phase 1. The driver and the two friends are with the police.

“These new revelations completely debunked Davido’s claim that he did not know how the deceased got to the general hospital. For these reasons, I have instructed the DPO and the IPO to again invite Davido and question him in line with the new findings.

“It is our intention to know why the victim was dumped in the hospital and those who took him there fled without notifying the hospital authorities or the police.

“As I speak to you Davido is currently with the DPO and the investigating team. The preliminary autopsy report revealed that the victim died of asphyxia, which in layman’s term, means suffocation.”

The CP promised to update members of the public on subsequent findings of the police investigations into the matter.

The police boss said the result of analysis of some substances suspected to be drugs recovered from the BMW car, in which DJ Olu and Amaechina died, would soon be released.

“The final autopsy report is still being awaited. Preliminary autopsy has been carried out, but the pathologist said there is the need for additional confirmation before he comes out with the final autopsy, which will state the cause of death.

“These two cases are being brought to the public domain because the police had realised that they are generating a lot of interest and there is the need for members of the public to keep abreast of investigations,” he added.

Imohimi lamented the spate of youth involvement in drug abuse and urged the public to partner the police in curbing the tthings.