The United Arab Emirate based Nigerian Gold merchant, Alh. Rabiu Auwalu Tijjani recently declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, over allegations of money laundering etc has cried out that he is the victim of crime turned an accused person by the unjust publication of his person as being wanted by the EFCC.
Alh. Auwalu said in his affidavit depositions in support of his Fundamental Human Rights Suit filed at the Federal High Court sitting in Kaduna that he was first in time to file a petition against his accuser with the Department of State Security Service since last year.
He exhibited his prior petition to the DSS vide his Solicitors and a reminder letter from his company to the DSS to his Court process in support of his claim in which he alleged that he doubled paid his present accuser who subsequently petitioned him to the EFCC to the tune of 3.2m dollars during the pendency of his prior petition against him with the DSS in a financial transaction in Dubai.
Presenting a background to the transaction leading to his unjust declaration as being wanted by the anti-graft agency, Alh. Auwalu said in his affidavit depositions vide paragraph 3(e) that sometime on 13th January 2022 in Dubai where he resides and carry out his lawful businesses, he was approached by the 2nd Respondent, one Mr. Ifeanyi Ezeokoli with a business transaction of 76m dollars.
He said upon successful completion of the transactions and upon reconciliation of the naira equivalent payment made to him by the said Mr. Ifeanyi, he discovered that Mr. Ifeanyi over paid him with N26m and he called the attention of Mr. Ifeanyi and returned the excess payment back to Mr. Ifeanyi who commended him for his forthrightness.
However, Alh. Auwalu lamented that when eventually he conducted the same audit of the dollar payment he made to Mr. Ifeanyi and discovered that he doubled-paid Mr. Ifeanyi with over 2m dollars and drew Mr. ifeanyi’s attention and requested him to come for reconciliation exercise, Mr. Ifeanyi refused and became hostile and very funny.
Alh. Auwalu further stated that upon sensing Mr. Ifeanyi’s strange conduct, he petitioned Mr. Ifeanyi to the DSS last year during one of his visits to Nigeria resulting both parties submitting themselves to the jurisdiction of the DSS along with their relevant documents.
He stated further that upon the DSS seeing the volume of documents submitted by the said Mr. Ifeanyi, suggested the parties to engage the services of an independent auditor to audit their transactions in issue which they both agreed, and upon realizing that the auditors have but lamented that upon the discovering the two companies which Ifeanyi represented in the transactions and to which accounts the double payment was made into, Mr. Ifeanyi refused to supply their exact office and ended up giving fictitious addresses of their offices.
Alh. Auwalu said it was at this point that Mr. Ifeanyi left the DSS and went to file petition against him with the EFCC during the pendency of Alh. Auwalu’s petition with DSS.
According to Alh. Auwalu, the EFCC Kaduna only called him once to enquire if he was in town but that he informed them that he does not reside in Nigeria and requested if can send a representative which they consented. That he later sent a representative with documents in proof of his innocence but that the EFCC decline to receive the documents and ended up only collecting the representative’s phone number with a pledge to call him whenever the need arose, which they never did before declaring him wanted.
Alh. Auwalu Claims that since the EFCC’s first call to him, the EFCC never called him again only to see his publication at the official website of the EFCC, as being declared wanted.
Leave a Comment