Wife Of Ecobank Staff Who Died In Police Custody Petitions National Assembly.

PUNCH—Ebun Oke, wife of Ecobank worker who died in police custody, has urged the National Assembly to probe the circumstances surrounding the death of her husband, Babatunde Oke.

Ebun, in a petition to the Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, wondered why the deceased was detained for over 72 hours.

She equally questioned police claims that the deceased took a bottle of soft drink and left the cork in his pocket.

The petition, a copy of which was obtained by our correspondent, chronicled the circumstances under which the late Babatunde was kept in the police custody.

PUNCH Metro had reported on February 24 that Babatunde was alleged to have defrauded Ecobank, Ladipo, Matori branch, of N1.2m while serving as the head teller of the bank.

The money was said to have been missing from the Automated Teller Machine, which Babatunde and an unnamed customer service manager, were responsible for.

It was reported that the deceased was arrested and was kept in the custody of the Falomo Police Division.

Tragedy, however, struck after Babatunde reportedly took a bottle of soft drink, which led to his death.

Ebun, in her petition, alleged, “He was refused bail on the ground that the bank has instructed them (the police) not to release him until the full payment in the tune of N600,000 with additional N400,000 as bribe for the police.

“The most discordant part of it is that the police claimed he kept the crown (lid of the soft drink he took) in his pocket. And here the question begs; how could a senior bank official put the crown of a soft drink in his pocket when the logical thing to do is just to dispose it since it serves no purpose and it’s of no relevance?”

The wife queried where her husband got the money to buy the drink and who sold it to him.

She said, “Can a detainee take anything without a second check from the police? All these are questions to be answered by the police.

“Was he meant to stay in police custody for about 72 hours? Were the Nigeria police meant to act on Ecobank’s instructions to carry out their duties? Do the police have the power to settle bank debt in the police station? Is that not aiding crime? The police said he drank Pepsi…When did he order the Pepsi? Tunde does not take sugary things. Which police officer bought the Pepsi? Where was the Pepsi bought? Who sold the Pepsi? Who tasted the Pepsi before he drank it? Will a reasonable man open a cork and put it in his pocket? Are the police saying that Pepsi Company killed my husband?”

Meanwhile, it was gathered that autopsy was yet to be conducted on the corpse 14 days after he died.

Ecobank had told PUNCH Metro that it would not make further comment on its late employee until the autopsy result was released.

It was learnt that the corpse had been deposited at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, pending when the test would be performed.

Seun Oke, brother to the late banker, said he did not know what caused the delay in carrying out a postmortem.

Seun, who first saw when Babatunde was taken from the police station into an ambulance, said the family was waiting to know exactly what killed his brother.

“I don’t know what is holding the postmortem. Maybe it is delay from the pathologists. I can’t say,” he said.