Tagbo was in ‘drunken state’, I never lied — seven key points of Davido’s statement

Singer Davido has released a statement through his lawyer Norrison Quakers regarding the death of his friend Tagbo Umeike.

While addressing journalists about the autopsy on Umeike’s corpse, the police had on Wednesday said he died from suffocation and that Davido lied during questioning.

In a bid to prove his innocence, the singer on Thursday posted on Instagram a CCTV footage of the night Umeike supposedly died, alongside a statement where his lawyer recounted his version of events.

Here are seven key points from it.

1. DAVIDO ‘WAS NEVER ARRESTED’

“First of all we wish to state that our client was never arrested but rather made himself available to assist the police in its investigation and after a satisfactory explanation, he was allowed to go.

“It is imperative to the state that the evidence and footage available to the police discloses the chain of events leading to the discovery of the remains of Mr. Tagbo Umeike do not in any way incriminate our client, but rather absolves him of any criminal culpability; a fact that the police is aware of.”

2. DAVIDO ‘DID NOT ASK ANYONE TO DUMP TAGBO’S BODY’

“For the records, we wish to state that our client has not been found culpable for the death of Mr. Tagbo Umeike, and this was earlier communicated by the police in a closed meeting involving the acting commissioner of police, Lagos. Davido, the family of the deceased and one Caroline Danjuma who claims to be girlfriend of the deceased.

“Our client was also not involved in the untimely death of the deceased, nor did he give any instructions to anyone to ‘dump’ the corpse of Mr. Tagbo Umeike anywhere.”

3. TAGBO WAS IN A ‘DRUNKEN STATE’

“Further, and as a matter of fact, we wish to state that the deceased did not step a foot, even for a second, in any of our client’s vehicles on the evening of the sad events.

“The facts that can be distilled from the CCTV footage obtained from “Shisha Room” are that on or about 12:23am in the early hours of Tuesday the 3rd of October, 2017 our client got ready to leave the premises of the “Shisha Room”, where he had gone to earlier in the company of some of his friends to celebrate the birthday of one Clarks Adeleke. Again, we reiterate our client arrived at the Shisha Room in his vehicle with his friends and the deceased arrived at about one hour later in his own vehicle.

“The CCTV footage obtained from the ‘Shisha Room’ captured our client and some others, including the deceased all standing close to our client’s vehicle as he prepared to leave after drinks and celebrations.

“The deceased is seen in that footage to be in a very drunken and intoxicated state as he was staggering and falling on the people around him. Our client tried to convince the deceased person to get into his vehicle in his drunken state so as to take him home safely, but this overture on our client’s part was declined by the deceased.

“The CCTV footage further revealed that our client drove out of the premises of ‘Shisha Room’, while the deceased went back into the ‘Shisha Room’ in the company of most of the people who were all at the car park at the time of our client’s departure.”

4. DAVIDO ‘LEARNED ABOUT TAGBO’S DEATH AT CLUB DNA’

“After departing from the ‘Shisha Room’ our client honored an invitation to a bar at Oniru Beach and subsequently went to DNA Night Club. Regrettably, while in DNA Night Club, with some friends, he received the tragic news of the death of the deceased.”

5. DAVIDO ‘NEVER SAW HIM AGAIN’ AFTER LEAVING SHISHA ROOM

“We wish to state unequivocally on behalf of our client, that he was not present at the time of the death of the deceased, neither did he give anyone directives or instructions to take the remains of the deceased to the general hospital or to the morgue.

“Our client had no knowledge of the deceased’s movement after he last saw him at the ‘Shisha Room’. Rather, it was friends of the deceased {who out of concern for the deceased} and without our client’s police details escorted the deceased’s car in our client’s Hilux Pilot truck. This they did, because they knew the deceased to be their Boss’ friend and were merely helping a fellow human being who was in need of help.”

6. DAVIDO ‘HAS NOT LIED ABOUT WHAT HE KNOWS’

“Our client maintains that he has not in any way lied about what he knows about the unfortunate incident, neither has his statement to the police been incoherent as unfortunately been presented in the media. Others involved have consistently maintained in their respective statements that our client did not instruct them to take the remains of the deceased to the hospital, nor did the deceased enter our client’s vehicle at any point that evening, nor does he have a hand in the death or transport of the remains of the deceased.”

7. SHOWS SUSPENDED TILL FURTHER NOTICE

“Our client in honor of the memory of his departed friends, has suspended his next few shows and musical engagements. We commiserate with the families of the deceased and pray that God will comfort them at a time like this.”