The family of a young banker, 23 year old Benjamin Idim who died in a fatal car accident at Utako area of Abuja have accused the Nigerian Police force of stealing some of the money in the possession of their son at the time of his death.
The banker was said to have been carrying over 1 million, a fact confirmed by a friend, Kunle, who earlier had custody of the money and officials of Diamond Bank.
However the police only returned his phones and the sum of N800,000 to the family as personal effects.
Ita Idim, the father of the deceased 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 late banker was said to have wanted to give N1 million to his mother for the Christmas celebration and spend the rest of the money on other things.
The father of the deceased said the son was not known to indulge in drugs or alcohol and was a devoted Christian.
“To tell you how devoted he was as a Christian, his girlfriend wanted him to drive her to the airport, but he declined to do so because he had choir practice at that time,” Ita said.
FCT Police spokesperson, Altienne Daniel said “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.