No fewer than 100 angry residents of Second Freedom Street, off Stadium
Road, on Monday stormed the premises of Protea Hotel in Benin, Edo
State, to protest against the killing of a 22-year-old man, Chibuike
Edeh, a housekeeping employee of the hotel.
The protesters,barricaded the entrance to the hotel and prevented its
staff and customers from either gaining access or leaving the
premises.One of the photos showed that the deceased suffered a deep cut
in his left jaw.
Punch gathered
that the 22-year-old from the Nkanu East Local Government Area of Enugu
State, had been arrested by the police and taken to the Adesuwa Police
Station after he was accused by the management of the hotel of stealing
N42,000 from one of the rooms.
But some of the youths said the late Chibuike was unjustly killed, as he was known for his honesty.
The brother of the deceased, Chibuzo, said the family was informed of
his arrest and told to provide the stolen money and an undisclosed
amount for his bail.
Chibuzo added that later, his brother could not be found either at the hotel or the police station.
He told our correspondent that the family was shocked when it discovered
the man’s corpse at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Ugbowo.
“We were on this (hotel) premises when a man called that we should meet
him at UBTH. When we got there, we were shocked to discover that my
brother was dead.
“The policemen and the CSO of this hotel killed my
brother. My brother has been working for close to three years and the so
called CSO claimed that he (deceased) was not capable of stealing. We
are appealing to the state government to help us in this matter.”
The mother of the victim, Christiana, said her son had earlier expressed fear when she visited him at the police station.
Some minutes past 9pm on Friday, my son called me on the telephone and
told me that he had a problem at his place of work. I became worried
because he used to close from work around 4pm daily. So, I told him that
I would come and see him the next day.
“The next day, I went to the
hotel with my other children. When we got there, the people said he had
been taken to the police station.
“When we got to the station, my son told me that he might not leave the station alive,” she said.
Efforts to reach the management of the hotel were unsuccessful.
But the Edo State Police Command denied complicity in the death of the
boy, adding that he died as a result of injuries sustained after he was
knocked down by Toyota Camry, while trying to escape.
The command’s spokesperson, Joseph Edoighiawerei, told PUNCH Metro that the deceased had confessed to the alleged crime.He said,
“A case of stealing was reported by the management of the Protea Hotel,
where the deceased was working, and he was arrested by Adesuwa Police
Station. While there, he made a confessional statement, admitting
stealing the money. The theft was even captured by Protea’s CCTV camera.
“He
also told the police that the money was still intact. The IPO and the
CSO of the Protea Hotel went with him to recover the money and on
getting to the hotel, he took to his heels.
“In the process, he was
knocked down by a Toyota Camry, and as I am talking to you, the car and
the driver, who knocked him down, are with the police.”
On how the corpse of the deceased was found at UBTH, he said,
“The investigation will prove other things that may arise. Investigation
is not done on the pages of newspapers or on the television.
“Anybody that has any information that will help in unravelling the mystery surrounding the whole issue should come forward.”
