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Denis Okosun
The death of an evangelist and retired police officer, has continued to cause controversies as his wife, separated from him for 30 years, and children have been accused of procuring a fake death certificate to conceal the circumstances surrounding his death.
This is as the eldest son from the deceased first wife has claimed that their father was killed because of landed property he possessed.
The retired Deputy Superintendent of Police, Evangelist Joseph Osadime Idehen, was said to be hale and hearty until July 4, 2016, when he suddenly died in the presence of his estranged wife, Pastor Taiwo, daughter identified as Ruth, and a man referred to as pastor.
The nephew to the deceased, Mr Osazuwa Osazemwinde, said that though the cause of death was unknown as no autopsy was conducted, Ruth allegedly colluded with her young brothers to procure death certificate signed by Dr. Daniel Kusimo of the State Hospital, Ota, Ogun State.
It was gathered that on the day Idehen died, Ruth and the estranged wife, now a pastor in a Pentecostal church, were said to have refused to break the news to anybody how their father died.
Pastor Taiwo, separated from Idehen for 30 years, also allegedly colluded with Ruth and her three younger brothers to fast track the burial outside Idehen’s ancestral home.
Speaking recently in Lagos, Mr.Scott Idehen, the eldest son from the first wife, said “My half-brothers procured fake death certificate from the State Hospital, Ota, Ogun State, with the help of one Dr. Daniel Kusimo, after they had killed and buried him in a strange land at Aragba Orogun in Ughelli North of Delta State.
“My father’s ancestral home is Upper Sakponba, Benin City, Edo State.”
Asked why he concluded his father was killed, he said, “It is because of his property. My father had a building with 16 flats in Lagos, another two storey building with several plots of land in Lagos and in Benin City. Immediately, they killed him, they collected every single document and kept it from me, the first son. Their mother had done everything she could to kill me so that her son will be the eldest son.”
Facts from State Hospital, Ota
During a visit to the office of the Chief Medical Director, Ogun State General Hospital, Ota, Dr Kayode Olukoju, to ascertain the veracity of the death certificate allegedly procured and signed by one of his doctors, the CMB said he was busy in the theatre.
In a petition by the family’s lawyer, Barr Roland Aibangbee of Milestone Partners, Corporate and Property Consultants, dated August 31, 2016 and addressed to the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State entitled: “Passionate request to conduct investigation on the cause of death of SP Joseph Idehen (Retd),” the lawyer alleged that Ruth and her mother hid the news from the family members hours after Idehen’s death at his resident at No 5, Odetola Street, off Merit Road, Alagbado, Lagos.
Similarly, another petition to the Commissioner of Police, dated August 16, 2017 titled: “Complaint against the undue delay and disturbing development surrounding the carrying out of investigation and conducting autopsy to ascertain the cause of death of late SP Joseph Idehen (Retd),” appealed to the police authorities to “unravel the truth concerning the death of the deceased.”
Confrontation with Dr Daniel Kusimo
Dr Kusimo, who issued the death certificate, said “I was on duty when they brought the man – the late Idehen – after he was earlier taken to a private hospital but when the condition worsened, he was referred to our general hospital and was brought dead.”
He explained that the late Idehen had been their patient, having registered in January 2016 and was once admitted few months prior to his death on July 4, 2016.
When asked what the late police officer was suffering from, he disclosed that he was being treated for hypertension.
“The man has been coming here for the treatment of hypertension earlier in the year. He was admitted once and he is somebody we know very well.
“Most of the statements people are making are not 100 per cent true. We didn’t do any autopsy as the man was our patient and we have been treating him for hypertension and he was already developing congestive cardiac failure.
“It was based on that that we wrote the death certificate which we usually do. It is not everybody that died we conduct an autopsy for. We only do autopsy where there is litigation.”
Dr Kusimo, accusing the reporter of taking side with the complainant said further that the case was at Alagbon Close and the police should perform their duty and conduct an autopsy to ascertain the cause of the death now generating controversy.
“I don’t think the man was killed and I don’t see any reason why they would want to kill their father at that age. When you have a polygamous home, a lot of things happen. They are fighting over property.
“All these things will be settled in court. I don’t think that man was killed,” he said.
However, a police source said authoritatively that the late Idehen was never a patient at the State Hospital, Ota as being insinuated by Dr Kusimo and was also not admitted for hypertension related ailment according to their investigation.
“Dr Kusimo wrote a statement at the police station which stated categorically that the man was never a patient. Maybe he has forgotten what he told the police. If he has the patient case file, let him present it,” the source further revealed.
The following verbal exchange ensued between Dr Kusimo and the reporter:
When was the late Idehen admitted in your hospital?
He was admitted for few days in January 2016 before he died in July. But he has been coming to the hospital after that.
How many years was he your patient?
Just for that year, January till he died in July 2016. He was on admission once. Let’s leave the case for the police to investigate. I’m the one that wrote the death certificate.
Did the late Idehen have a case file in the hospital?
We have been looking for the file and we would try and get it. We are looking for the file just as the police too have been asking for the patient’s case file.
Do you have it or you don’t have it?
Presently, it is not something we can give to you.
I don’t really want to extract anything from it but just to see the cover page where his name, file number and the Doctor treating him is indicated and the date it was opened.
It is not something we would be able to present to you because you are neither a police officer nor a lawyer. The case is with the police and they know what to do.
While the man was coming here as an outpatient, you were the one handling his case?
Yes
For how many months?
The visit was not for a very long time. It was just for that same year, from January till he died in July, 2016. He was 65 years old. At that age, people are already having one health problem or the other. You can see somebody in the morning and nothing is wrong with him, he can suddenly collapse and die.
In the medical line, if somebody is brought to the hospital dead and there is the need to issue death certificate, is it within medical ethics to ask for the first son of the man to issue such sensitive document?
No, as far as he is the son of the man, you can issue certificate to anybody. So long he is the biological child.
Okay, but the certificate you issued enabled other children from the estranged wife to bury the man outside his ancestral home without the knowledge of the first son and other members of the family?
Burying the man does not concern me.
When someone requests for death certificate, is it applied for officially through a letter to the hospital management?
It was not an issue as at the time they collected the certificate. Up till now, you don’t have to apply officially to collect the death certificate.
He died before he was brought here?
Yes. The history was that he was in a private hospital where he became unconscious and they told them to refer the patient here. So, along the way, he died.
As a medical doctor who was managing his health condition, did it occur to you that the patient might not have succumbed to death as a result of that ailment you claimed to be treating, but perhaps from another sickness?
You are already doing the work of a prosecutor or a lawyer. You are biased.
No, I am a journalist and have to ask those vital questions to establish the truth and enable me tell the story as it is.
That is the job of the police…let the police do their work; let the forensic department do their work and conduct an autopsy. All we are saying are possibilities not a fact. Let the police do their work – take the case to court and do an autopsy. I hope the corpse is still intact.
The body has been buried and the policemen that went to exhume the corpse in Delta State were attacked by thugs hired by the estranged wife and children.
Were they not armed? You are taking side with the complainant. There is no way they could have overpowered the policemen. What do they have? Were they carrying gun?
They were armed thugs.
Were you there? Is that what the police told you? One of the children told me that if the police had wanted to use force, they would have done that successfully. People take side on an issue, and you are already taking side. You have assumed the role of a prosecutor, a lawyer and everything with your questioning. Just let the police do their work.
Deceased bank account siphoned
Immediately after the death, the children of the estranged wife, Ruth, Emmanuel, Samuel and Michael were said to have confiscated all the late Idehen’s documents to his properties consisting of about 16 flats, a duplex, another storey building and some plots of land.
Mr. Scott, who is resident in Accra, Ghana,said authoritatively that one of his half-brothers, identified as Michael, withdrew N286, 000 with ATM from his father’s First Bank account while Samuel and Emmanuel withdrew about N2.5m from his Zenith Bank account.
Ruth spoke
When confronted on phone, Ruth Idehen, who was said to have orchestrated everything, denied either killing her father or siphoning money from his account, adding that the case was at the High Court at Ikoyi.
She further denied Mr Scott Idehen as her blood brother, claiming that Scott’s father was one Mr. Ogbomo and not Idehen.
“Mr Scott Ogbomo is not my brother. He is not Idehen’s son but only interested in his property. I never knew him until the death of my father.”
However, Dr Kusimo’s explanation that the late Idehen had died before being brought to the hospital was contradicted by Ruth Idehen’s statement. “My father didn’t die at home. He died at the premises of State Hospital, Ota, Ogun State,” she said.
Also, the estranged wife, Pastor Taiwo Idehen, expressed anger, claiming she will not say anything as far as burying the deceased husband in a strange place was concerned.
“The case is in the Court at Igbosere. I will send you my lawyer’s number. We summoned Mr Scott and other children and they failed to come to the court. My husband was from Delta State, he has land there and we buried him on his land. Do you bury someone in a strange land and the people there will accept it?” she queried.
“Scott Ogbomo is using the police to torment me and my children. I may have separated from my husband about 30 years ago, but I am the legal wife. I don’t know Scott,” Pastor Taiwo reiterated.
But when asked her church denomination, she declined comment. “Ask Scott to tell you. I have told you that I am a pastor.” However, it was gathered that the estrange wife, children and the doctor that issued the death certificate will soon be charged to court on completion of investigation.
