The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has
traced properties worth N1.5bn to a former Special Adviser to ex-President
Goodluck Jonathan on Domestic Affairs, Waripamowei Dudafa.
Our correspondent learnt on Sunday that as part
of investigations into an alleged case of money laundering, the EFCC discovered
some properties, which Dudafa had not been able to explain where he got the money
to buy them.
The commission discovered a mansion in the Agungi
area of the Lekki-Epe Expressway, allegedly belonging to Dudafa, said to be
worth over N300m.
The anti-graft agency
also traced a plot of land around the Chevron Estate, off the Lekki-Epe
Expressway and a twin duplex within the same area said to belong to Dudafa.
Apart from the Lagos
properties, an edifice in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, was also traced
to Dudafa.
A source in the EFCC
said, “When we are probing a person, we usually investigate his lifestyle and
see if he or she is living above his means. Since Dudafa has already been
arraigned for money laundering, we decided to launch further investigations
into his lifestyle.
“We found a white mansion
in the Agungi area of Lagos, very close to Lekki. He has about four exotic cars
in the compound. We did not seal it off because people live there. So, we just
placed a sticker on the fence to indicate that the property is a subject of
investigation.
“Dudafa also has a twin
duplex around the Chevron Estate. We did not seal it off because he has rented
the property out. However, he has a parcel of land around the place, which we
have sealed off.
“We have arraigned Dudafa
and if he is found guilty, he will forfeit the properties.”
Dudafa first became a
subject of EFCC investigation when a former Aide-de-Camp to Jonathan, Col.
Ojogbane Adegbe (retd.), told detectives that he handed over N10bn (converted
to foreign currency) to Dudafa on the eve of the 2014 Peoples Democratic Party
presidential primary in which Jonathan was the sole aspirant.
The money given to Dudafa
was allegedly used in bribing PDP delegates.
The money was allegedly
diverted by the Office of the National Security Adviser under Col. Sambo Dasuki
(retd.) from a Signature Bonus Account in the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The N10bn is believed to
have been diverted from oil receipts as follows: $5m (November 14, 2014); $47m
(November 27, 2014); €4m (December 3, 2014) and €1.6m (December 24,
2014).
While Adegbe was arrested
but later released, Dudafa was said to have fled to either Dubai or a Caribbean
country where he stayed for several months.
Dudafa was finally
arrested by operatives of the Department of State Services upon arrival at the
Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, on April 18, 2016.
The anti-graft agency
said the former presidential aide returned N900m to the Federal Government.
Dudafa is also believed
to be a front for Dame Patience Jonathan, the wife of the former President.
Patience had said in a
sworn affidavit two weeks ago that she gave Dudafa some money to help her open
an account at Skye Bank.
She, however, stated that
Dudafa used the money to open five accounts of which only one bore her name
while the other four were opened in the names of Pluto Property and Investment
Company Limited; Seagate Property Development & Investment Co. Limited;
Trans Ocean Property and Investment Company Limited and Avalon Global Property
Development Company Limited.
The current balance of the
four accounts is $15,591,700 while the money in Patience’s personal account
stands at $5m.
The four companies last
week pleaded guilty to money laundering.
Patience risks losing the
$15m to the government.
One Sammie Somiari, who
deposed to an affidavit on behalf of Patience, claimed that the former
President’s wife was the rightful owner of the $15m and that Dudafa helped her
to open the bank accounts in 2010.
The deponent claimed that
Patience was the sole signatory to the accounts.
Punch
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