MURDER: FAMILY ALLEGES POLICE ATTEMPT TO SABOTAGE AUTOPSY
By: Eben Enasco Kingsley (Benin City)
The alleged gruesome murder of Benson Obodeh, a car dealer, by some policemen few months ago seems to be far from ending as more revelations emerged over an alleged attempt to sabotage the planned autopsy by the men of the Edo State Police Command.
The alleged unruly activities of the policemen were uncovered in Benin City by the family of the disease whilst urging the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Solomon Arase to use his good office to hurt this heinous act by the officers of the command.
If you recall in our penultimate edition, the said Benson Obodeh was arrested and murdered in his cold blood in Benin, the Edo State Capital, on May 21. His family did not know his whereabouts until after 63 days, when the police from the Lagos State Command told some reporters that Benson’s body was at the Central Hospital morgue in Benin.
Speaking to reporters in Benin, the spokesperson for the family, Solomon Obodeh said they wanted justice.
Obodeh said the plot to steal Benson’s body was uncovered after the police used several tactics to delay the conduct of an autopsy to ascertain what killed Benson.
The spokesman said the family paid for and was preparing to take the body to Calabar, the Cross River State capital, for autopsy but the police refused to send their representative.
He said: “But to our greatest dismay, the police have refused to give any reason on why they do not want to appear for the autopsy.
“The family discovered that there is a grand plan by some unscrupulous policemen to steal the body from the morgue; hence, the delay by the police in conducting the autopsy, even after the family had paid for same.”
Obodeh alleged that the policemen who killed Benson obtained his ATM’s Personal Identification Number (PIN) with which they allegedly withdrew N330, 000 from his bank account.
He said the policemen “proceeded to Port Harcourt (Rivers State), where the police used the first Bank ATM cards to transfer N300,000 to Fasasi Adesina Kazeem, with Guaranty Trust Bank’s Account No. 0011009936 on May 23, 2015”.
He added: “The withdrew N100,000 on May 24, 25 and 26, 2015 at First Bank’s Artillery branch, FCMB’s Rumuokoro branch and Ecobank’s Rumuokoro branch, with ATM camera footage clearly showing Corporal Adeleke Adedeji making the withdrawals.
