Dr.
Waripamo-Owei Dudafa has narrated before a court in Lagos how agents of
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission tortured him in order to
make him implicate former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.
Dr. Waripamo-Owei Dudafa
A former senior special assistant to former President Goodluck
Jonathan on Domestic Affairs, Dr. Waripamo-Owei Dudafa yesterday
revealed before a Federal High Court in Lagos that the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) tortured and forced him to implicate
the former president.
Dudafa made the claims while testifying in a trial within trial
being conducted by the court after he claimed that a statement he made
to the EFCC were not voluntary.
The EFCC had arraigned Dudafa and one 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, however, pleaded
not guilty to all the charges.
At the resumed hearing of the matter on Monday, Dudafa told the
court that he developed a disease of spinal cord, while in EFCC
detention, adding that he was denied adequate medical treatment.
He also claimed that all the statements he wrote were dictated to
him, and that he was induced to sign in exchange for his freedom.
The defendant further testified that he was arrested last April 17
on a Sunday and kept in detention till Monday evening without anybody
explaining why he was arrested.
The former presidential aide said 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.”
Dudafa said he was denied access to his mobile phones from April 27, and his family was stopped from bringing food to him.
After hearing the submissions of parties in the suit, the judge
adjourned the case till today (Tuesday) for the continuation of his
testimony.
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