Aisha and late Toba
Aisha Falode, a famous broadcaster with Nigerian based AIT, believes that her son who was reportedly dead by slipping from a balcony in Dubai, was actually murdered, and has pleaded with the Federal Government of Nigeria to intervene in the matter so that justice can be down.
Falode who spoke at a press conference in Lagos, said contrary to the Dubai Police' claim that her 19-year-old son, Oluwadamilola Falode slipped from the balcony of his 17th floor apartment at the Manchester Towers in Dubai Marina, private investigations indicated that the he must have been pushed or thrown from the height.
She said, findings revealed that the deceased was not in the balcony with his girl as claimed by Dubai Police but the primary suspect, Faisal Aldakmary Al-Nasser, a son of a Saudi Arabia rich man, with major investments in Dubai was there and had a fight with late Falode.
It was revealed that Al-Nasser, who had in December 2013, had scuffles with the deceased over a British girl, Olivia Melanie Richards Evans, left his apartment that day with blood stains on his clothe and knuckles and repeatedly told his friends that he will serve a maximum jail term of 27 years.
An audio production student of SAE Institute, the deceased, according to the Dubai Police died on February 15 around 4am after he fell from his balcony.
He was said to have been in his apartment with five others-four boys and a girl, and had sat on the railing of his balcony swinging back and forth, while others except the girl who was said to have warned him to be careful, were inside.
According to the Dubai Police, all statements of the witnesses who were interviewed separately were similar, hence, the case was closed and no autopsy conducted.
But her mother, who said she was called by a security guard at her son's premises that something serious had happened to him, told reporters how the deceased's pastor and guardian in Dubai made several requests to Nigeria's Consulate in Dubai, but they neither turned up in the course of the investigation, nor replied them.
She said she was compelled to carry out an independent investigation based on various inconsistencies in the police report that was given to her family members who had earlier gone to retrieve her son's body.
Upon arriving Dubai and speaking with her son's friends who were in his apartment the day of the incident, Falode said she realised that her intuition was not wrong as the boys confirmed her fears that her son must have been murdered.
She lamented that she has done much more than she should by taking up the investigation of her son's death in a foreign land, which ordinarily is the responsibility of government.
She said: "We travelled to Dubai in April and met with some. Of my son's friends who were present in the apartment on that fateful day.
"The summary of the accounts of these friends (which they gave as wriiten statements voluntarily) were totally different from what the police report indicated and revealed a weak attempt by the authorities in Dubai to hide facts that showed my poor son was murdered.
"I was told that sometime in December 2013, the said Al-Nasser stormed my late son's apartment andordered Ms Evans (his supposed girlfriend) out of Toba's apartment, accusing her of having an affair with Toba.
"A fight was to have ensued from this confrontation, but for the intervention of other mutual friends. Since then, there was no love lost between Toba and Al-Nasser.
"In the evening of February 14, Toba together with his friend-Ebele Oladeji Onwugbufor, Nick Allison and Joachim Santene went to a club in Dubai known as M Deck, Media 1 Hotel, Media City.
"At the club, they met Al-Nasser and Ms Evans who were also there. That again, an argument started at the club concerning Olivia and shortly after, Al-Nasser and Olivia left. And Toba and his friends also left shortly after the other two left.
"On the trio's return to Toba's apartment, they were shocked and surprised to find Al-Nasser and Ms. Evans outside Toba's door, waiting and Ms. Evans was crying hysterically and appeared frightened while Al-Nasser appeared calm, with a determined look on his face.
"After they all entered Toba's apartment, he, Al-Nasser and Ms. Evans entered his room to sort things out and the three of them later exited the room and moved to the balcony of the apartment on the 17th floor."
Falode said she was told that there were signs of serious argument coming from the balcony with raised voices and flaying hands by Al-Nasser visible through the glass door of the balcony.
"After about 20 seconds, Al-Nasser and Ms. Evans came back into the room and announced that Toba had fallen off the railings. However, Al-Nasser had blood splattered all over his shirt and had bloody knuckles with a noticeable cut on his finger.
"They said at this point, they all rushed downstairs to see Toba's dead body lying approximately 12 to 15 meters away from the building, and the position of his body was not consistent with someone falling from a balcony as it was not close 2 d building.
"They said the police arrived and arrested them all and took them to the station and before and during the journey to the station, Al-Nasser repeatedly said to the hearing of everyone that his maximum punishment would be 25 years. He told the other boys not to worry, but Ms. Evans remained hysterical.
"But suddenly, the police took him by the side and told him in Arabic to stop making the statement and at the station, Al-Nesser and Ms. Evans were kept away from the rest and were interviewed separately while the other three were kept in another room and interviewed separately.
"The witnesses were clear that the above account was what they narrated and wrote as statements at the police station, a vital piece of information deliberately omitted in the police report which did not make any reference of to Al-Nasser or Ms. Evans at the balcony.
"Al-Nasser was released without taking the blood stained t-shirt from him as should have been done in any investigative matter."
Falode said all she wanted for her late son is justice, adding that justice must prevail, not just for Toba, but for all other young lives that have been cut short brutally.
"I am appealing to the government that I have done much more than I should do as a grieving mother who was left with no option but to start investigating my own son's murder by myself. I implore the Nigerian Government to prevail on the authorities in Dubai to re-open the investigation iinto the murder of my son to bring Al-Nasser and Ms Evans to book.
"The loss of a son is not what any parent should have to suffer, let alone a brutal murder. I do not wish this on any one because the pain is not only excruciating but almost unbearable.
"I am asking for justice for my son and prayers from everyone that God in his infinite mercy gives my family and I the strength to bear this great loss," she said.
Meanwhile, President, Women Arise, Dr. Joe Oke-Odumakin and rights lawyer, Festus Keyamo who were at the conference, called on the government to place premium on the lives of every Nigerian.
They stated that the government must begin to ask probing questions on suspicious death of Nigerians abroad, lambasting the nation's embassy in Dubai for treating the murder of a legal resident with levity.
Odumakin said her organisation had on May 12, written a petition to the Nigerian Embassy in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which was copied President Goodluck Jonathan and Chairman, House Committee on Diaspora, Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa.
She said while Dabiri-Erewa had acknowledged receipt of the petition and told her she had forwarded same to the Embassy in addition to a letter she personally wrote, the Embassy in the UAE and the Presidency were yet to reply.
She said "Toba's death should put a stop to murder of Nigerians abroad. Government must ask questions and demand answers. We must show that we care about the lives of everyone. Some students have died under mysterious and unfortunate circumstances in the UAE and no one asked questions.
"We have taken up this case and will not rest until justice is done. For every single tear drop for Nigerian citizens outside this country who are seeking better lives as a result of government's failure to provide same, justice must be served."
Keyamo,a family lawyer to the Falodes, said something untoward happened to the deceased and there was need for the government to take over the matter an expose what the Dubai police are hiding.
He said, "We want Nigerian government to be proactive when it comes to lives of citizens, the government has no regard for lives of Nigerians.
"It is the lack of action on their part after we have written several letters and petitions that has forced us to hold this conference.
"We learnt in Dubai that Al-Nasser, is the son of an influential Saudi Arabia man who has heavy investments in Dubai. That suggests that they are doing everything possible to protect him and we need our government to mount pressure on them so that they will know it is human life that is involved.
"We demanded for footages of the CCTV camera on the building and were told the camera does not cover the floors only the entrance and exit at the ground floor.
"Then, we demanded to see the footages on the day Toba and his friends entered and how they left, they told us it may not have recorded. How is that possible when it is common knowledge that Dubai has security cameras on every street, building and malls?
"We also observed that there were alterations on the incident book for that fateful day. It is obvious people are trying to cover up. Moreover, one of the security men on duty that night, a Pakistani was transferred immediately the thing happened."
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