Admin I November 9, 2016
Lagos, Nigeria – A Senior Special Assistant to ex- President Goodluck Jonathan, Mr. Waripamo-Owei Dudafa has accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) of forcing him to implicate Nigeria’s former First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan.
Dudafa who is currently on trial at the Federal High Court, Lagos on a 23-count charge of concealment and retention of proceeds of crime totaling N1.67 billion and for money laundering to the tune of $15 million said he has perfected his bail but that the EFCC is putting up several gimmick to keep him perpetually in prison.
Mrs. Jonathan has since claimed that the $15 million belongs to her. In the case before Mr. Idris, the judge granted Dudafa bail in the sum of N250 million with three sureties in like sum.
But in his petition, Dudafa said the commission was punishing him because of his loyalty to the former President and his family.
“My only sin is that I have refused to yield to the commission’s pressure to write false statements to incriminate the former first lady, Dame Patience Jonathan,”
Dudafa said various attempts by his lawyer to ensure that the commission deposited his international travel passport with the court since he was admitted to bail had been unsuccessful. He accused the EFCC of a blatant refusal to verify all the title documents provided by his sureties at the Land Registry for over two months in relations to the bail conditions granted him by Mr. Kuewumi.
“From the above facts, it has become obvious that the EFCC is desperate to keep him perpetually in prison with the ultimate aim of killing him in prison despite the fact that his deteriorating state of health has been made known to the EFCC through a medical report dated August 29, 2016, and issued by the Nigerian Prison Service, Ikoyi, Lagos,” the petition said.
He has appealed to the Human Rights Commission to intervene in what he described as “a clear case of arbitrary abuse of power and flagrant disregard to court order and breach of his fundamental rights” by the EFCC.
