The death of a 23-year-old banker, Benjamin Idim as become a test of integrity for members of the Nigerian Police as the family of the deceased is accusing officers who arrived the scene shortly after the incident of stealing from the dead.
The FCT Police Public Relations Officer, Altienne Daniel in a swift denial, who said she was not aware of the case, noted that the police officers may not have been the first responders at the scene of the accident.
“I am not aware of the case, but are they sure the police were the first to arrive at the scene? Besides, saving the boy’s life would be their priority, nobody would be checking the boot of the car to know whether he had money there or the amount of money in the car,” she stated.
Benjamin who works with Diamond Bank, Gwarimpa Branch died last week after he allegedly lost control of his car while returning from a late visit to a friend.
According to family members and friends Benjamin had N2 million with him in the car, but the police only recovered N800,000 and 2 phones from the crash site.
A friend of his Kunle, however, said that, Benjamin kept the money with him before he collected it later in the day.
“Benjamin actually kept the money in my locker. Though I don’t know the exact amount, I am sure it was more than N1m. It was therefore a surprise when we heard that the police recovered only N800,000,” Kunle said.
Benjamin was described has an easy going young man, devout Christian who would not be caught dead drinking alcohol.
The deceased parents who were out of the country when the incident occurred said Benjamin intend to give his mother N1 million for Xmas celebrations and spend the remaining money on personal stuffs.
The deceased father said they had they had to cut short their visit on hearing the sad news said, “we went to the police at Utako and they handed over two phones and about N800,000, which they said was recovered from the car. Later we learnt that the money in the car was more than the amount the police gave us.
“The bank also confirmed that he had more than that amount with him. If the police can hand over N800,000, you can be sure he had more than that in the car. The Nigerian Police Force can’t give all the money they recovered.”
The deceased was buried last Saturday in Calabar.