EFCC Forcing Me To Issue False Statement Against Patience Jonathan – Ex-Presidential Aide
Mrs. Patience Jonathan[/caption]
An aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Waripamo-Owei Dudafa has accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, of pressurizing him to incriminate former first lady, Patience Jonathan.
Dudafa, who served as a senior assistant on Domestic Matters to the immediate past president, made the allegation in a petition to the National Human Rights Commission.
The ex-aide, who is presently who is facing corruption trial, said he was being deliberately punished by the Commission because of his loyalty to the former president and his family.
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He accused the anti-graft agency of a desperation to perpetually detain him in despite meeting the bail conditions granted him by two federal judges.
“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.
Recall that the EFCC, in June, arraigned Mr. Dudafa and two others before Justice Mohammed Idris of the Lagos Division of the Federal High Court on a 23-count charge of concealment and retention of proceeds of crime totaling N1.67 billion.
Justice Idris thereafter granted Mr. Dudafa bail in the sum of N500 million with three sureties in like sum. He was also ordered to deposit his international passport with the registry of the court.
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But in the petition, Dudafa said that despite meeting all the “herculean” bail conditions as ordered, “the Commission has failed to fulfill its part, by verifying all the title documents of the sureties.”
“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 added.
Dudafa therefore appealed to the Human Rights Commission to intervene in “a clear case of arbitrary abuse of power and flagrant disregard to court order and breach of his fundamental rights” by the EFCC.
In a swift response, the EFCC Spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, denied Mr. Dudafa’s claims. He said, “I don’t know the petition you are talking about but whatever petition there is, the Commission does not force anybody to do anything.”
On Mr. Dudafa’s claims of the EFCC refusing to verify his bail documents, Mr. Uwujaren said “that matter is before a competent court of jurisdiction and matters before the court I don’t comment on them”.
