A high-profile court case in Nigeria has unfolded to unpack the circumstances of a devastating December car crash that claimed the lives of two long-time members of British heavyweight boxing star Anthony Joshua’s entourage, as new procedural and testimonial details emerge during ongoing proceedings.
At the center of the case is 46-year-old Adeniyi Mobolaji Kayode, the driver of the Lexus SUV that was carrying Joshua, his personal trainer Latif Ayodele, and strength coach Sina Ghami when the crash occurred. Kayode faces a series of serious charges, including two counts of causing death by dangerous driving and operating a motor vehicle without a valid national driver’s license, all of which he has formally denied in court. A second defendant, 35-year-old Abubakar Adamu, who was the owner and driver of the parked lorry that Kayode’s vehicle collided with, also denies a single charge of obstructing public road traffic flow.
Witness testimony from Inspector Christopher Ajayi Taiwo, a senior officer with the Ogun State Motor Traffic Division, laid out a timeline of the incident and the immediate aftermath. The court heard that the entire group was traveling from Lagos to Ogun State, a southwestern Nigerian region where Joshua has deep family roots, to visit the boxing champion’s father. All passengers, including Joshua, were asleep at the time of the collision, when Kayode attempted to overtake a moving heavy goods truck on the public highway, lost control of his SUV, and crashed headlong into an unoccupied parked lorry registered to Adamu. Both Ayodele and Ghami died at the scene of the crash.
When first responders arrived at the crash site, Taiwo told the court, both the damaged Lexus SUV and the stationary lorry had already been removed from the highway. Investigators were only able to recover physical evidence consisting of scattered crash debris, spilled soya beans that made up the parked lorry’s cargo spread across the road surface, and three small items recovered near the driver’s side of where the Lexus had come to rest: the vehicle’s logbook, a bottle of painkillers, and an energy drink.
One key procedural development that has been questioned by the defense is the fact that investigating officers have not yet taken a formal witness statement from Joshua, who was a passenger in the vehicle and survived the crash unharmed. During cross-examination of Taiwo, Kayode’s defense counsel pressed the inspector on why no statement had been obtained from the high-profile witness. Taiwo responded that efforts to secure a statement were still ongoing, and that he had not reached out to Joshua directly because he did not have the boxer’s contact information.
Joshua, who was born in Watford, UK, to a Nigerian father, has maintained close family and cultural ties to the Ogun State town of Sagamu, located close to the crash site. Shortly after the crash, he shared a heartfelt public tribute to his late team members on his social media channels, opening up about his personal grief. “I didn’t even realise how special they are,” Joshua wrote. “I’ll just be walking with them and cracking jokes with them, not even knowing God kept me in the presence of great men. 100% it’s tough for me, but I know it’s even tougher for their parents.”
Following the most recent court session, the judge adjourned the trial until September 10, when proceedings will resume with further testimony and procedural steps.