By Joseph Saater Undu

CONTROVERSY is trailing the discovery of the dead body of 19-year-old Joshua Bello, a secondary school leaver, in a pool in a private residential house at Adeniyi Jones area of Lagos.

Joshua, who until his death was said to be preparing for his Joint Admission Matriculation Board, JAMB, examinations, was said to have drowned on Sunday.

His elder brother, who spoke on condition of anonymity, alleged a foul play, claiming his younger brother was a very good swimmer, who had no difficulty swimming even in deeper waters with high current and wondered why he could have died in a swimming pool.

According to him, Joshua left his house on Saturday October 29, at about 6a.m., when he was called for a grilling job so that he could get to the venue early which he was doing as a pastime to make some money.

He said throughout the night till the next morning he (the elder brother) could not sleep because his younger brother, who stayed out late did not call home.

He said he was told by the police at 8a.m. on Sunday morning to come over because his brother had been arrested.

He explained that on getting to the station, he was told that Joshua was found dead that morning at the bottom of the pool in the private residential house around Adeniyi Jones.

“When I could not see him throughout that night, I tried calling his phone line at about 7p.m. but it was switched off,” he added.

According to Joshua’s brother, the owner of the house, where the party took place said the party ended at about 7:30p.m. and the caterer that engaged him also said he left at 8p.m.

Meanwhile, the security guards at the house claimed they saw him still grilling at 8:30p.m., alleging that he later went for a dive after working that night and got drowned.

According to them, they did not see him till the next morning, when they found his properties by the pool side.