“He was given overdose of banned injection” – Autopsy report on Senator Adeleke’s death
A witness’ account of the death of late senator representing Osun-West senatorial district, Chief Isiaka Adeleke, said he died of an overdose of banned injections.
LAUTECH Chief Medical Director, Prof Akeem Lasisi gave this testimony before a coroner in Osogbo on Monday.
Lasisi said he learnt of Adeleke’s passing after the Chief Medical Director of Biket Hospital, Osogbo, Dr Adebisi Adenle, called him telephone on April 23.
Lasisi told the court, according to what an aide to the deceased told him, that Adeleke complained of leg pain and somebody treated him.
According to the aide, the treatment was, however, not carried out by a doctor.
Lasisi added that the aide could also not ascertain whether the person who carried out the treatment was a nurse.
The CMD further said that he requested to see the drugs and injections administered to Adeleke, and found out there was Analgin, a drug which he said was outlawed when the late Prof Dora Akunyili was the Director General of NAFDAC.
“I saw the corpse. Before any process of examination of any diagnosis in medicine, there is what we call history before examination. So, we asked for the person who knew the conditions surrounding the death of the senator. So, the family pointed to one of the aides and the aide said he (Adeleke) was active the previous day and he came at midnight and started complaining of leg pain. So, they sent for somebody who came to give him injections,” Prof Lasisi said.
“I asked clearly the medical status of the person that administered the injections. I asked, ‘Is the person a doctor?’ but he said no. ‘Is he a nurse’?, he said he didn’t know but the person was a face they were used to.
“He mentioned various injections, so at that point I asked him if could lay his hands on the empty ampoules of the injections. The family members went home to get them. The injections were five per cent dextrose. We saw empty sachets; it was like a fluid and with it, we saw an intravenous fluid-giving set and scalp vein needle. We saw that empty. We saw two ampoules of Analgin, four ampoules of valium (diazepam) – 10ml each making 40 milligrammes, one ampoule of pentazocine, one ampoule of gentamicin and two ampoules of hydrocortisone.
“All of these were empty and his aide said these were what he was given. He also added that after he had been given, he (Adeleke) called him that he doesn’t want to entertain any visitor and he went to sleep. He (the aide) said he later went back to check him and saw that the senator’s eyes were wide open but he wasn’t breathing.”
Lasisi said that though diazepam “sedates and tranquilises when given in moderate dosage”, the dosage given to Adeleke was enough to get him killed.
He stated that if the injection would be given intravenously at all, it should be given at a facility where the patient could be resuscitated with artificial oxygen in case his breathing stopped.
“Analgin has been outlawed since the days of Dora Akunyili in NAFDAC. So, I don’t know where they got it from. They were given in excess dosage,” he said.
Mrs Titi Laoye-Tomori, the Osun State Deputy Governor, also said in her testimony before the coroner, that Adeleke ate little rice at a funeral ceremony in Osun State, a day before he died.
She said she sat very close to Adeleke at the function, and that he was served rice without fish or meat in an uncovered plate.
She said, “A woman brought a plate of rice. There was fried rice, a mixture of ‘jollof’ and white rice. There was no protein in it, that is, there was neither meat nor fish and the food was not covered. I was wondering why a man of his status would be served food not covered but I don’t know whether he was already eating the food before I arrived there or not.
“The senator was using his spoon to turn the rice and he was hesitant to eat it. I said jokingly, ‘ Your Excellency, why don’t you ask them to take the food away if you don’t want to eat it? And he said, ‘Se tori wipe kosi eran lori e?’ (Is it because there is no meat on it?).
“He said that woman brought a bowl of fish but these people you are seeing ate everything and left nothing for me. He then took his fork and stretched his hand to take a piece of fried fish from someone sitting close to him but his fork couldn’t pick it because the fish was fried.
“He took just three spoons and pushed the food aside. He was full of life and was cracking jokes. A gentleman seating on his right side brought out a drink from his pouch,” Laoye-Tomori added.
Adeleke’s family have said they are not in support of the ongoing inquest, as they suspect it “would be filled with alternate facts.“
