Four years
after Mrs Cordelia Iwegbuna Idowu Okocha death, she ‘visited’ her bank and
withdrew more than N527,500 from her savings account in a first generation bank
(name withheld).
Mrs Cordelia
Iwegbuna Idowu Okocha, died of breast cancer, at the age of 50 on August 7,
2004, and was buried in September 2004.
The statement
of account of the dead woman indicated that she withdrew N500,000 by ‘self ’ on
February 19, 2008. On February 28, 2008, she made another withdrawal of
N27,500 by ‘self’. She made all the withdrawals at the Awolowo Road branch of
the bank.
Her only
child, Chukwudi Uche Okocha, explained:
“My mother
died on August 7, 2004 as a result of breast cancer and my dad died on February
1, 2006. He slept and did not wake up. I am the only child of my parents, I was
17 years old when my mother died. My mum was sick for about eight months,
suffering from breast cancer before she gave up. Since my parents died, I’ve
been managing, trying to cope through the help of family and friends.
There is a
particular family that took me under their care and since then I’ve been living
with them. And to God be the glory, they have been trying. I got admission into
University of Lagos to study Mathematics in 2006. It has not been easy not
having one’s parents around.
“My mother
spent a lot of money when she was sick due to the nature of the sickness. We
all know that it is not easy to manage cancer. But about a month before she
died, she told me that she had something in her savings account; that was her
salary account. She told me that whatever happened, there was something left in
the account. When she died, she was paid her July salary. Before she died, she
told me that she had over N200,000 left in her account and when she died her
salary was paid into the account. So, there was over N500,000 in the account
when she died.”
Chukwudi, who
is now 28 added:
“But being the only one, I was not able to
process the transfer of the money to my account. My dad was unable to process
it before he died. Between 2008 and 2009, I tried to process the letter of
administration of my mother’s estate through the Lagos probate court and they
gave me the certificate to get the money in the account. That was when I
applied for the balance and they told me that the balance was about N500. I was
shocked because she told me what she had left in the account before she died
and I know she did not go to the bank after she told me what she had in the
bank. But even if there was no money, the July salary should have been there
because it was paid after she had died. And I have a copy of the pay slip for
the July salary. When I met Barrister Eluma, I complained to him that there was
something wrong with the account.
“When we went
to see the then branch manager of the bank, she asked if I was sure that my
mother was dead. But she was not ready to disclose anything. So, I felt there
was foul play somewhere and I decided to see a lawyer and see what we could do
about it. We discovered that two withdrawals were made from my mother’s account
in February, 2008; that is four years after she died. Did she come from her
grave to withdraw the money from her account? It is a savings account, meaning
that she was the only person who could make withdrawals from the account. So,
how come withdrawals were made four years after she died? The withdrawals were
made by ‘self’ according to the statement of account. It means that somebody,
most likely a staff, who knows she was dead or knows something about her
withdrew the money.
“What I need
now is for them to refund the money and pay some compensation for the
inconveniences I have gone through over the years. If I had been able to access
the money, it would have been very useful, particularly when I was in school.
Again, the value of the money has depreciated in the past 11 years. You can
imagine what I could have done if I had gotten the money then. So, they should
compensate me.”
Meanwhile, he
has written a petition to the Assistant Inspector General of Police in-charge
of Zone 2 Command, Nigeria Police, Zone 2 headquarters, Onikan, Lagos. Dated
June 17, 2015, it was captioned, RE: *** Account No 2004452106; Account Name:
Okocha Cordelia I. Petition On Criminal Breach Of Trust, Fraudulent
Misrepresentation, Conspiracy, Forgery, Stealing.
Culled from
Sunday Sun
Olee, na inside job
ReplyDeletecould be a family member too
ReplyDelete