Ben also transferred money from some of the victims’ accounts to his personal account number 3022317561 domiciled in First Bank.
Details have emerged on how a chorister at the All Saint Anglican Church, Surulere, Lagos State, Eboh Azuka Ben, burgled some houses on Adelabu Street, stealing phones and undisclosed amount of money.
SaharaReporters gathered that Ben also transferred money from some of the victims’ accounts to his personal account number 3022317561 domiciled in First Bank.
The account was opened in 2013 with him using All Saint Anglican Church, Surulere as his place of residence, documents seen by SaharaReporters showed.
“On Thursday, 4th August 2022 as at 4am, my dad discovered he couldn’t find his phone. He called my siblings and me, asking if we had seen it anywhere to which we replied “no”, and began searching everywhere for it,” a resident told SaharaReporters.
“We immediately started calling his phone and the line was busied and then later turned off. That was when we realised a burglar must have been here.
“We decided to call his bank so the account can be blocked, this was about after 5am, and that was when he was told his account was empty. But my dad was sure he had some money in there and the banker confirmed a transfer was made but certainly not by my dad but by one EBOH AZUKA BEN.
“Later in the morning, we discovered that tables were mounted to also go upstairs to our neighbor’s apartment. When we finally saw them we were told the same burglar had burgled their house and also got away with one of their phones and this time bought data with the money.
“This is not the first time this kind of thing is happening in our house let alone our street, because it’s kind of like a commercial road, like Adeniran Ogunsanya. It stopped when we had a dog, and recently it died of old age and now this happened.”
The resident added that they went to the church where Ben was identified as a former chorister in the church.
“Kind individuals suggested many things, even things we had done, from making a statement at the bank to going to the police, to try to track the phone ourselves, to the service provider, we did it all,” she said.
“Everyone just seemed lackadaisical about everything, every where we went. This must be why things like this continue, good men do nothing, no one really wants to see through that people get justice and at this point, I was very annoyed with this.
“Still hoping for help, an unknown person at the time reached out to me and helped me find the person and some other helpful details through the name the money was transferred to. I honestly didn't know such kind individuals were willing to do that for you online.
“From there, we went to Facebook to confirm and it was him, we even saw a family member bearing the same surname also a striking resemblance and a friend who attended his church, which was the location he inputed at the bank as his residence.”
She added that the police had failed to act despite all documents and details given to them.
“We gave the police all these details with mobilization money because of how much we wanted to get to the root of all this, hoping this time no excuses. Initially, they said well they will try to go to the venue but his picture would be perfect.
“Through Facebook and his BVN, we got two of his pictures and a police officer escorted us to the church the second time, the first was with just the name and they said they didn't know him at the church.
“Now we had his picture they still said they didn't. We didn't want to give up so easily so we asked to see their pastor or something which they call Vicar, on getting there same lackadaisical attitude. Fortunately for us in investigating the guy from Facebook, I also searched for friends and family.
“So I had an image of his friend also which the gate man had earlier said he didn't know, but at the Vicar's office, he said he did. Maybe he was trying to protect him I don't know but he lied. We didn't want to harass or hassle anyone we just needed to know if that friend might have information about the most likely thief.
“A kind woman at the church then told us she did know the BEN EBOH as she referred to him, he was in the choir with his friend, but he left the church a long time ago. She has none of their contact info but maybe if we come on Sunday, we can get some information.
“So we did, I had to dress up like I was coming to their church that Sunday, skirt, scarf just in case the gateman wasn't cooperative because of his nonchalant so far and I was right that Sunday, we got there very early and on seeing us the gateman told me “I don't have time for all this as you can see I'm very busy”.
“I had to do it myself, fortunately for me I already had information that Ben was in choir and the friend is presently still in the choir. I went to the choir who also fortunately for me was outside and asked about the friend who was supposed to be at church, they told me he didn't come for rehearsal on Friday and they doubt he was coming that day. So I got his phone number so at least I can communicate with him or give the police.
“A few days before then I had sent a request and message on Facebook hoping he would talk to me but he never accepted it and read my message and never responded and now he didn’t come to church. Seems like someone had told him about our visit.
“Everyone we spoke to said he was an honest man but why won’t he at least talk to us? At that point, I gave the police officer his number and he said he would invite him to the station but still, nothing has happened that I am aware of.”