This is incredible but do read!
One Mrs Cordelia Iwegbuna Idowu Okocha, who died of breast cancer, at the age of 50 on August 7, 2004, and
was buried in September 2004 allegedly withdrew money from her bank account recently.
more than N527,500 from her savings account in a first generation bank
(name withheld).
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.