Police arrest 3 civil servants, IT student for illegal withdrawal of benefits of dead colleague

From David Kuvie Bauchi

Bauchi State Police command has arrested four suspects for allegedly withdrawing benefits of a deceased colleague using forged documents.

Police Public Relations Officer for the command, Ahmed Mohammed Wakil, disclosed this in a press release.

Wakil,  a Superintendent of Police (SP), said one Nasiru Samaila, a staff of Bauchi State Ministry of Finance, conspired with three others to commit the crime.

The three other suspects are Auwal Jibrin, 27, of the ministry of Finance, Tijjani Mohammad 27, of State Low-Cost Housing,  Bauchi, and Faruq Mohammad Nasiru,19, an IT student of Abubakar Tatari Ali Polytechnic, Bauchi attached to the ministry of Finance on Industrial Attachment.

He said the suspects were being charged for criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of public trust  by public servant, misappropriation, forgery and fraud.

The police spokesman said on June 6, 2022,  Samira Jibrin, daughter and next of kin to late Jibrin Adamu of Zalanga, Ganjuwa Local Government Area, who worked with the ministry of Finance, filed a complaint to the police.

Wakil explained that Samira recounted that after her father’s death in December 2, 2021, she went on to process his benefit at the  ministry but discovered that it had been processed and withdrawn using forged documents.

“On receipt of the case, the detective attached to A’ Divisional Police Headquarters swung into action and carried out a preliminary investigation,” the PPRO said.

“The investigation revealed that the suspects selfishly and mercilessly forged documents and accessed the sum of N332,00 belonging to the deceased and convert it to their personal use, shared the benefit among themselves.

“Discreet investigation revealed that Nasiru Samaila who utilises his office of  17 years experience in the ministry  devised the ill idea of forging documents to claim the deceased’s benefit at the expense of the deserving next of kin and got the share of N212,000.

“All the suspects confessed to having played an active role in the commission of the crime. 

“Thus, one of the suspects Auwal Jibril  also a staff of the said ministry claimed to be a witness to the deceased got N100,000 as his share, while Tijjani Mohammed, a cybercafé operator who posed the guarantor to the next of kin, as well as Faruq Mohammed an IT student of Abubakar Tatari Ali Polytechnic attached to the said Ministry, claimed to be next of kin of the deceased, ending up with N20,000 respectively.

“Consequently, the sum of N320,000 had been recovered from the suspects.

“Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police directed that the case be charged to court”