Late Hotel Worker’s Family Demands N500m Compensation

The family of the late Chibuike Edeh, a worker with Protea Hotel, Benin City who died while in police custody, barely four days after he was arrested for allegedly stealing N48,000 from a hotel guest, has demanded N500m as compensation from the Police Service Commission and two others.

Our correspondent had on March 17, 2015, reported how the death of the 27-year-old man sparked series of protests by his friends and family members who accused the police of “torturing” him to death barely 48 hours after he was arrested and taken into police custody.

The family had expressed dismay that rather than finding the late man at the Adesuwa Police Division, where he was said to have been taken to after the arrest, his corpse was discovered at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Ugbowo.

The police had claimed that the “suspect” was knocked down by a Toyota Camry vehicle as he tried to escape while leading police operatives to recover the stolen money from a fence between Protea Hotel and an NNPC mega filling station along Sapele Road.

But the aggrieved family had in a letter dated May 7, 2015 and addressed to the chairman of the commission, accused the Nigeria Police of unlawful killing and negligence in the death of the 27-year-old man.

The letter from the deceased family was written through their lawyer, Dele Igbinedion of Dele Igbinedion Chambers.

They also demanded the same amount as damages from Protea Hotel, Benin, and the Edo State Hospitals Management Board for alleged negligence and threatened to institute a legal action against the three parties if they failed to comply with the demand.

The Edehs accused the hospitals management board of denying the deceased urgent treatment.

They said, “Instead, Chibuike Edeh, who was then bleeding profusely, was referred to UBTH, Ugbowo; a distance of more than six miles from the Central Hospital.

“In the event, valuable time was lost in organising for an ambulance to convey Chibuike Edeh through the heavy Friday evening traffic on the busy Benin streets and roads to UBTH.

“Eventually arriving at UBTH at about 6.40pm, Chibuike Edeh had unfortunately lost too much blood and eventually died 25 minutes after arrival at exactly 7.15pm.”

The family, according to the letter, said it did not agree with the position of the police on the matter, saying neither the investigating police officer nor the chief security officer of the hotel took immediate action to provide medical aid for the deceased.

“Instead, both the police and the chief security officer of Protea Hotels abandoned him. In the circumstances, we have been instructed to (and we do hereby firmly) demand that your Commission should pay the sum of N500m as compensation to our client’s family for the negligence of the police officer(s) which caused the death of Chibuike Edeh.

“In the event of your failure to comply with the above demand, accept this letter as a one month notice of our client’s intention to institute civil proceedings in the Federal High Court against the Commission, the Nigeria Police Force, etc,” the letter read.

Punch