'EFCC forced me to implicate Jonathan' - GEJ's ex-aide

Waripamo-Owei Dudafa on Monday, January 23, told a Federal High Court in Lagos that the EFCC obtained oral and written statements from him under duress, forcing him to implicate Jonathan.

He said the statements were gotten from him during his detention in the EFCC facility, as he suffered pains from a spinal cord ailment - adding that he was denied adequate medical treatment.

He also said the anti-graft agency tricked him to sign the statements in exchange for freedom.

Giving details of his experience in detention, Dufafa said his family members were barred from bringing him food, leaving him to starve.

He said: "April 27 till May 12 was so tormenting. Sometimes I was taken out from the detention centre and kept in EFCC office between 8am and 8pm, and sometimes until 11pm depending on their mood.

"The ailment I have today is a spinal cord dislocation. It was within that period of my torture and agony that my spinal cord got dislocated.

"I was not in the best frame to write statements but they went on to force them from me. The document remains fake as they only brought out those items to nail me."

The ex--presidential aide further explained that after the statements had been forced out of him, he was denied access to his lawyers.

"In fact my lawyers were driven away," he said.

Dufafa added that when he health condition worsened, EFCC operatives only gave him paracetamol and aspirin, and allowed him to visit an in-house medical doctor.

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He explained that he was then referred to a military hospital by Commission's doctor.

After they ran some tests at the hospital, it was revealed that he had a spinal cord injury and needed to see a specialist, he said.

According to him, the EFCC refused to let him see a specialist and even denied a request by his family to bring in a specialist to the facility to examine him.

"My Lord, I was dehumanised to the extent that I got scared of the people around me. The mistreatment was also extended to my immediate family as they froze my wife’s bank account and my children’s schools savings accounts in a bid to frustrate and break me down," he said.

"When I realised that I did not make any statements voluntarily I raised objections."

Dufafa, however, admitted during cross-examination by EFCC's prosecutor, Rotimi Oyedepo, that he was cautioned before making the statements.

He also said he was never forced to admit committing any crime in the statements, but insisted he was forced to him.

The presiding judge Mohammed Idris, adjourned the case till January 24 for the continuation of the trial-within-trial.

Dufafa, alongside Iwejuo Joseph Nna alias Taiwo Ebenezer and Olugbenga Isaiah were arraigned on 23-counts 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.