Posers still as Olumide’s burial holds today

Apagun_OlumideFRESH facts emerged yesterday on how and why an Egba High Chief and businessman, Apagun Oluwole Olumide, opted for suicide on Friday at the Abeokuta Golf Course and Resort but nothing is certain yet on how or why he died.

Meanwhile, his remains will be buried today  at his Ita-Eko residence in Abeokuta. He was a member of Methodist Church of

Nigeria.

A family source said that around 8.45 p.m. on Friday, Olumide, a close ally of the former governor, Gbenga Daniel, phoned his lawyer-friend in Lagos simply called Adeyemi that in the next few minutes he would commit suicide because he was fed up with the turn of his businesses and how Ogun State government had singled him out for “destruction”.

The Egba High Chief was said to have told his friend that he was alone then at the Golf Course and was determined to take his own life.

According to the source, “Apagun told his friend that he had sent out his driver on a needless errand, for him to be left alone to commit suicide. While his friend was begging him not to take his life, Olumide switched off his phone but his friend quickly called some Egba leaders, including the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo, who was said to have contacted some Egba chiefs, his personal aides and men of Ogun State Fire Service to rush down to Abeokuta Golf Course to rescue Apagun Olumide. But by the time they got there, the man was already dead.”

A source close to the monarch said: “We searched everywhere and did not see any trace that he was there. But around 10.00 p.m., we saw his cap around the lake called Rock Beach. By that time, his driver had joined us in the search. The men of the Fire Service said they could not enter the lake that night but with other chiefs around, we searched for some Egun natives farming around the place who agreed to enter the lake. They demanded for a bottle of hot drink, which we quickly gave them. They tried that night but when it was 11.55 p.m., they said they had to go home to continue the following day.

“On Saturday, they resumed the search as early as 6.00 a.m. and his body was found around 10.00 a.m. by the Egun farmers. The body was taken to the mortuary of the Aro Psychiatric Hospital, Abeokuta”.

While all options are still being weighed on the death of Olumide, the suicide theory is based on his activities before the death.

When the administration of Governor Ibikunle Amosun assumed office, he set up a Judicial Commission of Inquiry to look into all allegations of alleged injustice suffered by any individual or group under the previous administration.

Based on this, some members of the community in which the Abeokuta Golf Course and Resort was located sent a petition to the commission, alleging that Apagun illegally converted the ownership of the Golf Course to himself. And based on the recommendation of Justice Abiodun Akinyemi-led Commission, the government last month returned the Golf Course to the original owners. Ironically, it was in the artificial lake that Apagun built at the Golf Course that he drowned in.

Before then, Apagun had built a Club House for the Golf Course. The Club House was cited at the premises of the Ogun State Secretariat, Abeokuta. But Amosun’s government considered the location of the house a “security risk hence it demolished it on assumption of office”. Before the demolition, the deceased claimed he had spent about N1 billion on it.

Again, based on Justice Akinyemi commission’s recommendation, the government seized the 150-bedroom Golf Place Hotel in which Apagun was said to be a major shareholder.

Just as he was trying to recover from these shocks, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) invited the deceased to its Lagos office to answer some queries. He was said to have been detained for about four days by the Commission before he got his temporary freedom. But the Commission asked him to report back last Friday.

The story is that, after leaving the EFCC Ikoyi, Lagos office, he asked his driver to drive him straight to the Golf Course located at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, where his death occurred.

Though there are strong indications that he committed suicide, some people insist that only thorough investigations can determine the cause of his death. The Guardian gathered that the family members and Egba chiefs ordered that an autopsy be conducted on the body immediately.

An associate, however, said Apagun committed suicide. His words: “He (the deceased) benefited from the corrupt administration of the immediate past government, so it is not unlikely that he had a lot to hide and maybe he didn’t have the courage to face his actions”.

Governor Amosun has ordered investigations into the circumstances that led to his death.

The Commissioner of Police, Okoye Ikemefuna, said it was too early to conclude the cause of Olumide’s death, even though he said “there was no mark of violence on the body”. He said he had referred the case to the State Criminal Investigations Department for investigation.

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