A former Senior Special Assistant to ex-President, Goodluck Jonathan, on Domestic Affairs, Waripamo-Owei Dudafa, on Monday, January 23, said he was “tormented” by the Ibrahim Magu-led Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in a bid to get him to implicate the former President.Dudafa, said he developed a spinal cord ailment, while in detention at EFCC, adding that, he was denied adequate medical attention. The former Presidential Aide, said he was forced to write all the statements he wrote, and was induced to sign, in exchange for his freedom.
Dudafa, was testifying in a trial-within-trial, which began at the Federal High Court, in Lagos, after he claimed that the statements he made to the EFCC were not voluntary.
The anti-graft Commission, had arraigned him and Iwejuo Joseph Nna (alias Taiwo A. Ebenezer and Olugbenga Isaiah), before Justice Mohammed Idris, on a 23-count charge of conspiracy and concealment of crime proceeds.
They were accused of conspiring to conceal proceeds of crime amounting to over N1.6 billion, on June 11, 2013. They pleaded not guilty to all the counts.
Dudafa, said he was arrested last April 17, on a Sunday, and kept in detention till Monday evening, without anybody explaining why he was arrested.
He added, that he was kept in detention until April 27, before he was taken to EFCC’s office, on Awolowo road, for interrogation, where he made four statements, including an asset declaration form, which he described as a “sham.”
“April 27 till May 12, was so tormenting. Sometimes I was taken out from the detention centre and kept in EFCC office from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., sometimes 11 p.m.
“The ailment I have today, is a spinal cord dislocation. It was within that period of torture and agony that my spinal cord got dislocated, due to sitting down from morning till night,” he said.
The defendant claimed that the EFCC denied him access to his Lawyers, saying: “I made a request, in fact my Lawyers were driven away.”
Dudafa said he was invited to a meeting, in which all the parties in case were involved. Everyone else had a Lawyer except him. He said the EFCC nominated a Lawyer which he did not know, to represent him.
“That was the only statement that was endorsed by a Lawyer; a Lawyer that was not known to me,” he said.
According to him, the EFCC officials gave him paracetamol and aspirin, and only allowed him to see an in-house, Doctor when his situation worsened. The EFCC Doctor he said, referred him to a Military Hospital, where tests revealed he had a spinal cord injury and needed to see a Specialist.
“I wasn’t taken to any Specialist. My family even OFFERED to bring an Orthopedic Physician to attend to me, but they refused. While in the cell, I was isolated. They wanted me to say a lot of things.
“They asked me questions about Goodluck Jonathan. In my statements at the time, I stated that every function I discharged was official, because I acted based on instruction. “I was dehumanised to the extent that I got scared of people walking past me,” he said.
Dudafa accused the EFCC Investigators of trying to breaking him, so he could do their bidding. He said an Investigator, Orji Chukwumau, told him: “So, you’re still strong?”
The former Presidential Aide, said the EFCC even extended the ill-treatment to his family, freezing his wife’s and children’s schools SAVINGS ACCOUNTS, “in a bid to frustrate and break me down.”
He said on May 20, Chukwuma took him to the Head of Operations in Lagos, Iliasu Kwabai, who told him that the Federal Government was only interested in recovering stolen MONEY, because there was not enough fund even to finance the budget.
“They told me they only wanted to recover money, and that they needed my corporation. My response was no, though my freedom was paramount to me. Iliasu said I should return money for my freedom.
“The Director of Operation threatened me, saying I would remain in detention forever, unless I cooperate. He told me that my freedom was dependent upon the release of the money. My wife and children could not feed. Everything became a yardstick for my freedom. I had no objection to what he was saying.
“Until May 20, my statements were largely dictated to me. My health condition was deteriorating. On May 30, my family raised an alarm telling the whole world that the EFCC refused to treat me,” Dudafa said.
“On June 1, they went to the bank and the MONEY was released to them, still they refused to let me go. They asked me to bring sureties, and they arrested up to 40 members of my family and friends. For fear of being arrested, all my friends and family deserted me,” Dudafa lamented.
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