The late ally of former Governor Gbenga Daniel, Apagun Wole Olumide, asked to be left alone to pray before he was found dead on Friday night at the artificial lake at the Golf Resort Hotel, Abeokuta, Ogun State.
Sources said that Olumide told his driver, who brought him directly to the hotel from the office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in Lagos, where he had been detained for his alleged involvement in the accusation of misappropriation of funds by Daniel during his eight-year tenure, that he wanted to pray.
It was learnt that Olumide told his driver to retire to his house at Surulere in Ita Eko area of Abeokuta, the state capital, for the night but that before he does so he should get him a security guard from the hotel.
It was learnt that the driver, after he informed the guard of the request of Olumide, who was the Chairman of the Golf Resort Hotel before the Ogun State Government took it over as a public trust because of allegations that Daniel made use of the state’s fund to build it, came back to where he left his boss only to discover he was no longer there.
The driver reportedly searched the area with the guard but did not find Olumide.
They then raised the alarm, which attracted others.
The search party then opted to look into the artificial lake.
There, in the lake, they found the cap of the deceased floating and also his shoes.
Efforts to locate the deceased were futile until this morning when a combined team of the police, fire fighters, local divers and men and officers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps undertook a search.
Their efforts yielded result at about 9.02am when his body was found in the artificial lake.
His body was then put in a black body bag.
Found on Olumide, who was dressed in a white kaftan, were his mobile phone, hand beads and cash.
Olumide, who would have been 70 in May, has been under scrutiny for the role he allegedly played in the suspicion that Daniel mismanaged state funds during his tenure.
Daniel was alleged to have used state resources to build the 150-room Golf Resort Hotel, over which Olumide superintends as chairman.
The state government has also demolished the building of one of Olumide’s investments, Water Parks, for defects in the land acquisition process and siting of the project.
The police was yet to make any pronouncement on the death of Olumide.
The Commissioner, Ogun State Police Command, Ikemefuna Okoye, who was at the scene of the recovery of Olumide’s body, declined making comments.