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.
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