How ‘Aisha Buhari’ Duped Us Of N150 Million – Company

More details have emerged on how Amina Mohammed, the lady accused of defrauding a transportation company – Chicason Group ­­– to the tune of N150 million, swindled her victim using the name of Nigeria’s First Lady, Mrs Aisha Buhari.

THE WHISTLER recalls how Ms Mohammed was arrested late last year by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) for allegedly impersonating the President’s wife and defrauding Chicason Group under the pretext to help them acquire a Court of Appeal property in Lagos.

The accused had during her interrogation by the DSS claimed that she is not a fraudster, adding that she worked with associates of President Buhari and his wife to help people acquire government properties.

“I cannot be a fraudster, it is not true. No, I cannot accept,” Ms Mohammed was heard saying in a video that went viral after her interrogation by the DSS.

She had said, “Former SGF, Babachir is involved, Moriyatu is involved. And this is not fraud. Chicason has been buying federal government property and he has been doing it and you all know the directors in the ministry involved will collect bribe before bidding will be out.”

But speaking for the first time since Mohammed’s arrest, Chicason Group explained what actually transpired between its company and Ms Mohammed.

Speaking through its Head of Corporate Communications, Mr Isa Haruna Gamson, Chicason Group explained that on “July 2017, a traditional ruler approached the Chairman/CEO of Chicason Group of Companies, Chief (Dr) Alexander Chika Okafor, informing him that the property beside Chief Okafor’s residence in Ikoyi, Lagos, made up of 2 plots belonging to the Court of Appeal, was up for sale by the Federal Government Implementation Committee on disposal of FG Landed Property.

“The royal father said that he would have applied for it but was short of funds, but asked Chief Okafor to apply for it; hence gave Okafor the forms to fill for the property, who he decided to give it a try because of the seemingly trusted source.

“The CEO got the forms filled for the two plots through two companies under the Chicason Group: Cason Travels Ltd and Uslasiya Nigeria Ltd.

“Two weeks after, he received a call from a lady, who was identified by Truecaller as “Amina Villa.” She introduced herself as the sister of the First Lady. The lady said that some people brought the application forms by our companies to her sister to assist in the procurement of the property. Amina Villa said her sister asked her to confirm that the identity of the owners of the companies used in the forms was genuine.

“Subsequently, Amina Villa visited the Abuja office of the Chicason Group for confirmation and promised to fix a meeting with her sister upon her availability.

“On a later date, she called Chief Okafor and said she had arranged a meeting for him at the Villa with the First Lady. By the time he arrived the Villa in the evening for the meeting, his details were already in the system as an expected visitor. His biometrics was taken and he was cleared. Amina received him and took him to the First Lady’s lounge where someone offered him water. But he wondered why the lounge was so quiet and bereft of the expected human activity. Amina apologised that the First Lady had to travel for the lesser hajj that morning and that was why she made frantic effort for Chief Okafor to meet the First Lady the previous day. On hearing that the First Lady was not around, Chief Okafor left the Villa immediately.

“Amina said each of the plots of the property was officially up for sale at N150 million. She asked that since Chief Okafor was always travelling, that he should give her the money, so that she could pay promptly from the account she controls and be in charge of the transaction, to make it seamless.

“We have with us all the telephone and WhatsApp messages of the exchanges. Our Chairman insisted that an account number be provided, before making any payment. No reasonable person would pay a bribe into a bank account using his corporate or personal bank account. The only thing mentioned by Amina was that she would be paid a commission at the successful completion of the transaction, which is normal in property transactions.

“Few months after the payment, the traditional ruler confirmed to our Chairman that the documents were out. Amina also confirmed that there was an approval for the allocation of the plot to our company and that she had the document. She then asked for a commission of N20 million but Chief Okafor insisted on documentary evidence of the approval to be made available to him before releasing the commission. It was from that point that the hide-and-seek started, with excuses made each day why the document could not be presented”, the statement read

The company said Ms Mohammed’s arrest followed months of hide-and-seek between its CEO and the accused, which prompted its CEO to contact aides of the Presidency leading to Ms Mohammed’s eventual arrest by the DSS after a petition was written by the company.

“The matter is being handled by the DSS, and we are waiting for the result from their investigation. That was why we kept quiet all this while,” said the Chicason Group.