The Daily Observer (Banjul)
Assan Sallah & Hatab Fadera
28 October 2008
A dramatic scene unfolded on Monday 22nd September, 2008, when a Nigerian national, Mr Paulino Car widely known as Bola Johnson, collapsed and died at the Banjul Magistrates' Court, while trying to settle the ongoing court case between his wife Salimatou Jallow and Lawyer Sheriff Tambedou, over the sale of a vehicle, at the Banjul Magistrates' Court.
Mr Bola was immediately rushed to the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital (RVTH) in Banjul, where he was confirmed dead.
Reliable sources reaching the Daily Observer, revealed that Mr Bola Johnson went to the court to negotiate and handover a Toyota Highlander, 2008 Model 4-wheel drive car, belonging to his wife Salimatou Jallow, to Lawyer Sheriff Tambedou.
Sources further revealed that Salimatou Jallow sold the car to Lawyer Tambedou at a sum of US$25,000 (twenty-five thousand US dollars) but had refused to handover the vehicle, which resulted to the court case. Below are reactions of conflict involving the two parties on this intriguing issue:
When contacted, Lawyer Tambedou said he did not have any case with any Nigerian, adding that he had a case against one Salimatou Jallow, the wife of Mr Bola Johnson, a Nigerian, for failing to handover the vehicle he bought from her.
According to Lawyer Tambedou, he gave US$21,000 to Salimatou Jallow after they had made an agreement that he would complete payment of the remaining balance (US$4,000), two weeks from the time he received the car. He then added that Mrs Jallow failed to honour the agreement and he decided to take up the matter with the court.
"When the case was called in court, she was not there and the court issued an order for the vehicle to be impounded and she was also ordered to cooperate with the Sheriff's Division in order to provide the location of the said vehicle. She refused to comply.
The case was adjourned to Friday, September 19th, 2008. I came to court and applied for her (Salimatou Jallow) to be confined to prison for contempt of the court. The case was then adjourned to 22nd September, 2008, for her to come and tell the court why she should not be indited for contempt," Lawyer Tambedou explained.
According to him, "This this gentleman then came and identified himself as Mr Bola, a Nigerian national and said he was Salimatou Jallow's husband. He talked to me and we agreed that he would bring the car and give it to me, in order to prevent his wife from going to prison. We agreed that he would give me the car and I would give him the balance of the money [US$4,000]. He left and in the afternoon, he called me to say that he was on his way to the Magistrates' Court to handover the vehicle. When he came, we went to the Magistrates' Court and he gave me the keys to the vehicle. As I was about to give him the money, he collapsed and then I stopped a taxi to rush him to RVTH in Banjul," Lawyer Tambedou narrated.
He told the Daily Observer that he had paid the remaining US$ 4,000 to the court and added that the cause of Mr Bola's sudden death will be revealed by the result of the post-mortem.
Meanwhile, when the Daily Observer contacted the police for possible comments on the issue, ASP Sulayman Secka, the public relations officer of the Gambia Police Forces (GPF), said the police investigations are in progress. He added that their investigating team will be well equipped when they get the results of the post mortem.
In an interview with the Daily Observer, Magistrate Kayode Olajubutu, former Magistrate of the Banjul Magistrates' Court who identified himself as a witness to this case, said the matter is now before him, adding that he is now transferred to the Brikama Magistrates' Court..
According to him, the matter is a case that was filed in court against one Salimatou Jallow, for the recovery of a car."In fact the matter was pending. I went on leave and I came back and I still met the file. Now the claim was read to the defendant (Salimatou Jallow) and the defendant said "I admit, but I have sold the car to another person two days ago." So I told her that if she is admitting liability then how can she say she have sold the car to another buyer two days ago. Now, that means you have the car and you have the money.
The defendant also admitted that Lawyer Sheriff Tambedou paid US$21,000, (twenty one thousand dollars). I told her there is another application which Lawyer Tambedou made in his claim. The application is that the car should be brought to court. So I ordered that the car should be brought to the custody of the court. Now there was a problem there too because this woman claimed that she had sold the car to somebody who lives in Serrekunda.
So in my order, I specifically ordered that an officer of the Sheriff Division should make sure that the car is brought to court. So an officer by the name Lamin Saidy went with her. Now Lamin Saidy came back the following day when the case was adjourned, and reported that when he went with the woman, the woman took him to uncompleted buildings in Banjul. So that gave the court an impression that this woman was not saying the truth. I then reminded her whether she know the implications of lying to the court? So she was in other words flouting the order of the court. Thereafter the case was adjourned and infact the bailiff came to report that the woman did not come to court.
She sent a medical paper to the court that she was sick. The medical paper was signed by one Dr. Dumbuya but the medical paper did not indicate what sickness she is suffering from, it just stated 2 weeks absent from work. Lawyer Tambedou now made another application before the court that this woman should be committed to prison for contempt but I emphasised that the woman should rather show course why she should not be committed to prison but the woman failed to come to the court, I remembered it was on Friday. She stopped coming to court.
That was the last day the case was adjourned till Monday. Now on Sunday, Lawyer Secka called me to say he was going to appear in the matter, I told him thats the situation of the case, this woman has refused to obey the order of the court, and I must say this; an order of the court is never disobey, they are meant to be obeyed. I am saying this with all the emphasis at my disposal that no order of court is to be taken with levity, they have to be obeyed, otherwise, the whole judiciary system becomes a mockery," Magistrate Kayode Olabujutu narrated.
"Now on Monday, when the case resumed, the woman did not come to court, meanwhile, the deceased (Bola Johnson) came to court on Monday to inform me that he was the husband of this woman (Salimatou Jallow) and that Tambedou was owing them US$4,000 on the sale of that car. He said he was ready to bring the car to court if Tambedou will pay the balance.
" well I told them they (the deceased and Tambedou) can go and talk because the court is also supposed to encourage settlement of cases outside the court if it is possible. The man (deceased) presented himself as the husband of the defendant and I said whatever settlement you are making, that car must be brought to court. So they went and later came back and reported that they have been able to reach the settlement and the same man (the deceased) undertook to bring the car to court before the close of work on Monday, so they left.
So after 3' 0'clock in the afternoon when I was about to close, Lawyer Tambedou came in and told me ,"Well your worship you should exercise some patient, the man just called now to say that he was at Denton Bridge coming with the car" and I waited and they both came into my office and the man said to me that he was serious,and handed over the car keys and that the car is downstairs. I then told Mr.
Tambedou the ball is in his court. Mr. Tambedou replied that he had with him US$4,000, the two thousand is in dollars and the other two thousand is in dalasis, and asked whether the man would like to take it that way? The man said he would rather take it all in dollars because tomorrow morning, he would be travelling out of this place to come back on Saturday. So Mr. Tambedou stood up and he (Tambedou) was calling somebody who would convert that money into dollars.
This man (the deceased) was not looking sick, he was not complaining of anything, he was sitting down and then all of a sudden, he went down and urinated and infact everybody was shocked, Mr. Tambedou was calling his [the deceased's] wife [Salimatou Jallow], to say whether this thing had ever happened to him before. I thought it was epilepsy or so. So I was trying to sprinkle water, my orderly came and everybodyelse. For me I have never seen that kind of thing before. Like you having hiccups or somebody struggling to breath. I went down to call for help; my orderly went to the fire service to call them for help. Then as they were carrying him to the hospital, his wife [Salimatou Jallow] who was all the time running away from the courts appeared. That is as far as the case goes but it is very unfortunate that such an incident happened in the court of law and so many unpaintable things have been said but then people are free to run their mouths," he stated.
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