How alleged fake army general posed as Obasanjo’s son to defraud me of N266 million

A prosecution witness, on Tuesday, told the Special Offences Court in Ikeka, Lagos, how a suspected fake army general, Bolarinwa Abiodun, allegedly defrauded him of about N266 million by posing as a son of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

The witness, Bamidele Safiriyu, who is also the complainant in the case, was testifying as the first prosecution witness in the trial of Mr Abiodun, who faces 13 counts of fraud, forgery and other charges.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) filed the charges against defendant and arraigned him on April 12, this year. Mr Abidoun pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

The trial judge, Oluwatoyin Taiwo, had ordered the remand of the defendant after his arraignment. On Monday, the court rejected his bail application on the grounds that he was a flight-risk.

EFCC opened its case on Tuesday, with the first prosecution witness, Mr Safiriyu, taking the court through how the defendant allegedly defrauded him using Mr Obasanjo’s name.

The commission’s spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, gave the account of the proceedings in a press statement on Tuesday.

‘How it started’

According to the EFCC’s statement, Mr Sarafiyu opened his testimony telling the court how he and the man who claimed to be the former president’s son crossed paths in April 2017.

Led in evidence by EFCC’s prosecuting counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, the witness, who described himself as a businessman dealing in clearing and forwarding, said it started on a Friday, sometime in April 2017, when one of his loaded trucks heading to a customer’s cold room hit the defendant’s Honda Accord.

He said: “He detained the truck, because he was in a convoy of soldiers.

“On Saturday the following day, I got a call from my client that some soldiers had hijacked the container.

“I became troubled because it has never happened before, and that Saturday, I was to travel out, and so I was just praying because I didn’t know what to do.”

Mr Safiriyu said Mr Abiodun called the next day introducing himself and prefixing his name by military title, General.

He also said the defendant claimed to be a son of former President Obasanjo. Mr Obasanjo, a former military head of state in the lat 70s, also served as elected Nigerian president between 1999 and 2007.

“Later in the day, I received a call from this young man, and he introduced himself as General Abiodun Bolarinwa, a General in the Nigerian Army and a son to Baba Olusegun Obasanjo, former President,” the witness said.

He added: “He told me in that conversation that my truck was with him, that the truck bashed his car, and his boys brought it to where he stays at Abule-Egba.

“Later my team also met with him and they got the issue resolved after spending about N200,000.”

Subsequent moves

The witness said, after the incident, the defendant, continued communicating with him.

He said on one occasion, the defendant came to his office in a convoy of military personnel with a banner of former President Obasanjo adorning one of the vehicles.

He said: “He came with a convoy and they were shooting in the air and everywhere was scattered.

“Later he sent me a message that he is going to be made the military assistant to the president at Aso Rock.

“He sent me the letter and he said he would need some assistance, claiming that in the Army you are going to provide everything you need.

“Later he said he was vying for the Chief of Army Staff, COAS, that he has been nominated by the President and that he needs money to press and process the appointment.”

In his solitary moments, the witness said he wondered why the defendant could not get Mr Obasanjo to help him make a push to be made the Chief of Army Staff. Premiumtimesng