Death of doctor in Benin: Family disagrees with wife's claim

CONTROVERSY is trailing the death of a 49-year-old Chief Consultant Gynaecologist and Managing Director of Hope Medical Centre, Benin City, Dr. John Abode, last Tuesday, as family members disagreed with the claim by the wife that he committed suicide.

The news that the deceased who also was a staff of Edo State-owned Stella Obasanjo Hospital Benin City, shocked both his colleagues and family members since the deceased who is doing well in his profession recently opened his private clinic.

The widow was said to have informed the police that the deceased committed suicide in his wardrobe at about 12noon last Tuesday.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Stephen Onwochei, who reacted to the incident, pointed out that before his men got to the scene, the wife had moved the lifeless body out of the wardrobe, adding that this made it difficult for the police to ascertain his exact position at the point of death.

However, the family and four pathologists swung into action last Saturday to conduct autopsy to  ascertain the actual cause of death.
Vanguard learned that preliminary report indicated that  the deceased died as a result of cessation, which meant he might have used a belt to commit suicide or strangled by unknown persons.


The suspicion that the medical doctor may have been strangled became glaring when one of the police pathologists touched the rails used in building the wardrobe and they pulled out with ease, an indication that the rails could not have carried the weight of the deceased.

However, two of the pathologists have travelled to Lagos to conduct more test on the deceased but a family source told Vanguard that the police must do their job properly.
‘’They should ask the wife how come when she claimed she saw the deceased body, she did not raise alarm to attract people. She waited from that afternoon till 7pm to inform the elder brother of the deceased.

“Our brother could not have committed suicide because he has no reason to do that. He just opened a very big hospital in Benin. And from the autopsy so far, it is clear that he was strangled.
‘’If he committed suicide in the wardrobe, how come the wardrobe is neatly packed? So the Police must investigate the wife seriously because we know they have issues in the past.

‘’Our brother did a surgery a day before his death, he was okay, so the claim that he committed suicide is rubbish,” the source said.

Source: Vanguard