Ooni of Ife suspends Oduduwa University founder, Adedoyin from Council of Chiefs over murder allegation

Paramount ruler of Ife Kingdom and head of the Osun State Council of Chiefs, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi (Ojaja II) has suspended the embattled founder of Oduduwa University, Dr. Ramon Adedoyin.

Adedoyin holds the traditional title of Maye of Ile-Ife.

Aedoyin was last week arrested by the Osun State Police Command on allegation of involvement in the murder of a post-graduate student of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Timothy Adegoke, at his Hilton Hotels and Resorts, Ile-Ife.

The embattled Adedoyin is still in the custody of the police, with reports claiming that the Inspector General of Police, Mr Baba Alkali, has already requested that the case file be transferred to Abuja.

In the same vein, Adedoyin’s son who managed the hotels has been declared wanted after he fled over the incident.

This is the second time Adedoyin will be suspended as Maye of Ile-Ife.

In 2018, he was suspended over a trending Poem, ‘Ewi’ on the Ooni, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi released to defame the stool and character of the frontline monarch.

The address of the Council was read by the Secretary to the Ife Traditional Council, Chief Adetoye Odewole.

“That beyond a reasonable doubt, Chief Ramon Adedoyin and his cohorts like Oba Adeoye Adefarakan have committed offences of defaming the stool and character of the Ooni of Ife, assault and the libelous release of the ewi remain indelible and all these acts are conducts likely to cause a breach of peace.

“That all parties involved in the meeting passed a vote of no confidence on Chief Ramon Adedoyin and Oba Adeoye Adefarakan.

“That the House of Oduduwa henceforth suspends the chieftaincy title of Maye of Ife that was bestowed on Chief Ramon Adedoyin until further notice.

“Chief Ramon Adedoyin should not parade himself as the Maye of Ife until he absolved himself of his disloyalty and betrayal to the stool of Ooni and the House of Oduduwa.”

The Osun State Commissioner of Police, Wale Olokode, last Monday said one of the suspects held in connection with the death of Timothy Adegoke, a Masters student of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, had confessed that son of the owner of Hiltons Hotels and Resorts, Ile-Ife, Roheem Adedoyin, arranged how the corpse was evacuated and taken to the bush.

The police boss said Roheem, who is the Managing Director of the hotel where the late Adegoke reportedly died, organised how the corpse was evacuated from the facility and buried without informing the police.

Featuring on a radio programme, ‘Frank Talk’ monitored on Rave FM, Osogbo, Olokode, however said Roheem is on the run, adding that in the course of police investigation into the matter, detectives were able to discover where the corpse was buried.

“One of the suspects confessed that the MD is the son of Dr Ramon Adedoyin, his name is Roheem Adedoyin who is now at large. He also confessed that he (Roheem) organised the corpse to be thrown into a bush. The MD along with two managers took the corpse to the bush.

“None of the staff members informed the police. It was the report of the missing person that made the anti-kidnapping team who then discovered through their meticulous investigation and traced the so-called missing person to that hotel and then traced the corpse, where it was found.”

Osun police had, last Thursday, arrested Chief Adedoyin who is the Founder of Oduduwa University and the Polytechnic, in Ile-Ife, over the death of a Master of Business Administration student of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Timothy Oludare Adegoke inside a hotel owned by the educationist.

Dr Adedoyin is also the Chairman of Hilton Hotel and Resort, Ile-Ife, where the deceased is believed to have died; this, in addition to the land beside the hotel on which the late Adegoke was hurriedly buried in a shallow grave.

The late Timothy Oludare Adegoke, reportedly visited Ile-Ife from Abuja to sit for his examination at the OAU distance learning centre, in Moro, Osun State on November 5.

Adegoke who was declared missing on November 7 was found dead two days later.

The police acting on orders from the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr Baba Alkali, arrested six suspects linked to the death of the student.

In a statement issued by the Commissioner of Police, CP Olawale Olokode, through the command’s spokesperson, SP Yemisi Opalola, on Wednesday, it was disclosed that Adedoyin was arrested on November 15, 2021.

The police boss said the suspect was in police detention undergoing interrogation in connection with the case while awaiting the autopsy report from the hospital.

While thanking members of the public, especially the bereaved family, students, and management of OAU for their patience to allow the police to continue on a thorough investigation on the matter, Olokode reiterated the commitment of the state police command to ensure justice is done.

He noted that no matter the personality of the person involved in the case or how highly or lowly placed in the society if found culpable that individual would be brought to justice.

He assured that updates on the case would be made public as the event unfolds.

The death of Oludare has pitched the state police against family of the deceased who had alleged attempt to cover-up the crime by the former.

This is also as the involvement of the IGP Alkali was perfected by the family of the deceased student who had feared that the powers that be in the state may compel the police command to cover up the case against Dr. Ramon Adedoyin, who is also a chief in Ife.

While relatives of the deceased claim he was found buried on the premises of Hilton Hotels and Resorts, the property owner and staff of the hotel initially denied knowing the late Oludare, only to allegedly confess on interrogation.

A cousin of the deceased, Mr Gabriel Ogunlana said Dr Adedoyin had initially threatened to arrest Timothy’s brother, Gbade that after alleging that he constituted a nuisance to his hotel when the family was looking for him (Timothy) in the hotel.

Ogunlana said it was the family who contacted the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba, which led the police chief to call Osun State Commissioner of Police, Olawole Olokode, before the death of his cousin was uncovered.

“It was the confessional statement of the lady staff member in the hotel, Adesola Tobiloba that led to the arrest of five others. The lady confessed that Manager 4 — the Alfa (Islamic cleric) — was always around any time they wanted to perform that act of killing. That he was in charge of the (murder) act.

“When the Alfa came, he wanted to exonerate himself. He said he left Ife on the 5th (of November). Police asked him where he went and he said he left for Ejigbo. And the police were able to track Timothy’s line to Ejigbo. It was Alfa’s confessional statement that led to where Timothy was buried.

“We noticed some kind of conspiracy on the part of the police. Alfa confessed that Timothy was not the first person they murdered this year. He was the fifth person. They were saying they knocked on the door and when it was not opened, they used the spare key to open it and found him dead. They now said they buried him. The police asked if they reported it, they said no.

“It was when we noticed the manner by which the police were carrying out the job that we began to talk to the media. They were trying to cover up,” Ogunlana said.

Speaking on the part played by the chairman of the hotel, Ogunlana alleged, “On Wednesday, when the brother of the deceased, Gbade brought the receipts of previous lodgings, the police went there with him and met the owner there. The owner said the fact that he (Timothy) came there the previous week did not mean he came there the following week. He said they didn’t see him that week. The brother called me and said ‘I’m in front of the owner of the hotel, they said he is a king, they said he is a prince. He is threatening to arrest me that I’m asking about the whereabouts of my brother.’

“That owner (Adedoyin) was threatening to arrest Timothy’s brother. He said he was constituting a nuisance to the hotel. Throughout that week, the owner was there. He was coming to that hotel.

“The elders in our family called the Inspector-General of Police in Abuja before all these things started to come out. How they discovered his corpse, the police seemed to have known. They asked us if we could identify the corpse of the person we were looking for, we said yes. They brought out a shovel, so they dug the ground and brought out a carton according to them.

“They discovered in the carton that the deceased was wrapped with the duvet from the hotel. When they unwrapped it, they discovered it was the person that was missing. They didn’t unwrap him completely; they asked that he should be taken to the mortuary.

“The police were now reporting that the carton was not really big, he was squeezed. It was there they discovered that parts of the body had been mutilated and they did not allow any member of the family to see beyond the part they revealed. They just put it in the morgue there. Then, they came back, and ordered the arrest of the owner of the hotel.

“The intriguing part of the story is that he was not kidnapped from the airport as earlier insinuated; he was killed in the hotel where he lodged. The Hilton and Resorts Hotel where he lodged belongs to Mr Rahman Adedoyin (Maye of Ife), the owner of Oduduwa University in Ile-Ife.

“Initially, when we approached the hotel to ask about him, they denied that he was their guest for the weekend. The owner of the hotel (Adedoyin) vehemently dismissed Timothy. “However, upon police investigation, the Police established that Timothy paid for the hotel and lodged there for the night. Also, they located his mutilated corpse wrapped in a blood-soaked blanket/bed sheet belonging to the hotel and buried in a shallow grave near the hotel.”