By Ruth Chukwuemeka

WIFE of a 35-year-old senior bank staff, Petra Akinti Onyegbule, who was arrested for allegedly stealing US$200,000 from his company has described as untrue, report that her husband stole the money from the plane. Rather, she has called on the concerned offices to investigate the matter with a view to vindicating her husband.

Her husband, Nnaemeka Onyegbule, was a staff of Area 3, Garki, Abuja branch of Intercontinental Bank Plc. But following the acquisition process of the bank by Access Bank, he was reportedly drafted to the Bullion Van services Unit six months ago, and has reportedly been shuttling from Abuja to Lagos, moving cash .

Things however, fell apart for the banker and his company following the discovery that out of the ten million US dollars he was to move from Abuja to Lagos on July 17, 2012, two hundred dollars was missing.

Explaining, Mrs Onyegbule said: “On Tuesday July 17, 2012, my husband said one Joseph and Michael counted $1,000,000 from the vault of Access Bank branch at Plot 1244 Samuel Ladoke Akintola Boulevard, Garki II, Abuja. He said he packed the money into three bags of $400,000, $400,000 and $200, 000, proceeded to the local wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja with one David.

At the airport, David had sole custody of the bag for about 10 minutes while my husband went to get his boarding pass for Arik Air flight W3 802 Abuja to Lagos. The ticket for the flight was bought on Monday, July 16, 2012. My husband sat on seat 4F and put his bag containing the $1,000,000 in the overhead locker behind him. In the course of the flight, he noticed that a man on seat 6B left his seat and was at the compartment where his (Ford’s) bag was for over five minutes.

Head of internal audit

When the aircraft touched down in Lagos, he decided to check the contents of his bag and discovered that $200,000 was missing though the bag was neither torn nor had the padlock broken. He alerted the Cabin Supervisor on the development but was told there was nothing the airline could do since he did not declare what he had in his possession before boarding.

He called his boss at the Access Bank, Apapa branch to book an appointment but went first to Access Bank Alausa branch to deposit the remaining $800, 000. After narrating the incident to his boss, both of them went over to Access Bank Head Office at 999c, Danmole Street, Victoria Island, Lagos where my husband was interrogated by the Head of Internal Audit. He was handed over to the Bar Beach Police Station, Victoria Island same July 17 and was detained there till past 11 am on Friday, July 20 when he was transferred to the State CID, Panti.”

Brother dies of heart ache over arrest: Mrs. Onyegbule added: “That same Friday, July 20, I went with my sister-in-law to the head office of Access Bank to demand why the Bank did not notify his next of kin about his arrest and detention. One of their officers outrightly said my husband was a thief and that he thought we came to beg.

It took the intervention of the head of Internal Audit of the Bank to hear what I had to say and he also said to me that my husband should have told me he “signed” for the job of moving huge sums of money in hard currency around.

On Sunday, July 22, I `went to Panti with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law to give my husband food. As usual, we hung around till evening. At about 4:15 pm, we left Panti for Ojuelegba and on our way, my brother-in-law, a known hypertensive developed some complications. He complained of headache and died there of a possible heart attack.

Then, on Tuesday July 24, my husband was taken to Abuja and detained at the Asokoro Police Station overnight. The next day, he was brought to the house by two policemen with a search warrant and after searching, they seized our International Passports including that of our three-year-old daughter.

He was returned to Asokoro Police Station for the night and brought back to Lagos on Thursday, July 26.  On Friday, July 27 I went back to Panti to find out what was going on and why he was being held there for this long.   Nobody gave answers to my inquiries or what the position is with the Bank.”

However, when Crime Alert visited SCID, Panti, Lagos, it was discovered that the case had been charged before an Ebute Metta Magistrate court.