Governor Dapo Abidoun of Ogun was paying convicted fraudster Bidemi Rufai “$50,000” per deal as a state appointee, U.S. court documents have revealed.
Even though, the Ogun State government has on Sunday denied that it paid the convicted fraudster who was Special Senior Special Assistant on Special Duties, Bidemi Rufai “$50,000” per deal as a state appointee.
The government also denied that Rufai brought business concerns to the state during his short stint as a special assistant to the state Governor, Dapo Abiodun.
The statement went as far as denying any relationship between Gov. Abiodun and Bidemi Rufai prior to the 2019 election and that he offered the governor no special favour.
Prior to his arrest and conviction in the United States, Mr Rufai was in August 2020 appointed senior special assistant on special duties by governor Abiodun.
In May 2021, Mr Rufai was apprehended by U.S. security officials at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport while returning to Nigeria.
Court documents listed that on May 26, 2021, he was indicted on one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, nine counts of wire fraud and five counts of aggravated identity theft.
A Washington Post report states that Mr Abiodun was paying Mr Rufai $2,000 as his official salary as well as the $50,000 cut meant for “introducing people” to him.
The U.S.-based media outlet quoted Mr Rufai’s lawyers telling the federal court.
Both pays were much higher than the average Nigerian earnings in a government circle.
Mr Abiodun has gained a reputation in Ogun state as an astute transactional governor while he’s also profoundly referred to as “Mr ten percent” by those within his administration.
A nickname he got as a result of his renowned fixed rate of charging an extra ten percent on land sales from multinational companies hoping to establish factories in Ogun state.
Peoples Gazette reached out to Kunle Somorin, the Chief Press Secretary to Mr Abiodun, for comments, he, however, refused to respond.
But in a statement signed by Mr. Somorin, on Sunday, he said Rufai, who was appointed by the governor as his Senior Special Assistant on Housing, never had any close relationship with the governor, prior to his appointment.
According to Somorin, Rufai, like other aides of the governor, was recommended from his ward for the appointment, and not because of any special favour he offered to the governor during his gubernatorial campaigns in 2019.
The statement further faulted and denied the claims by the online medium that Rufai was being paid a $2,000 salary, which according to it is “outrageous and baseless.”
The statement read, “salaries and wages of political office holders are fixed by the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission, adding that no member of the government is permitted to any other allowances not known to law.
“Records in the state never showed that Rufai, while serving in the state, brought a single investor or facilitated any investment from the United States of America, wondering how the former political aide would then be paid $50,000 for a deal that never took place.
“Bidemi Rufai was appointed as a Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Housing and was nominated for appointment barely three months before he was arrested.
“He had not resumed formerly and had no official office to transact business. He wasn’t part of the Ogun State Economic Management Team and have got no input into the state government activities. His appointment was based on his activities in his ward. He didn’t sit in the State Executive Council meetings and couldn’t have had inputs in policies of the state government.
“The governor had no deal with Rufai on any transaction. He brought not a single one. They can check with the US embassy.”
Somorin noted further that Governor Abiodun being a law-abiding person and respecter of the rule of law, immediately suspended Rufai after his arrest for fraud in the United States and later terminated his appointment, even before his conviction for the crime by the US court.
He noted that the current political season in the country is an auspicious time for unscrupulous politicians to attack or sponsor attacks against their opponents, hence, the timing of the concocted story.
He said that the political enemies of the governor, who are perhaps not happy with his rising profile, particularly in terms of the huge foreign investment drive and infrastructural development in Ogun State, might want to play up the issue of Rufai to tarnish his image.
Somorin, while calling on the people of the state to disregard the report as a mere “attention seeking” gambit, said that Governor Abiodun would rather not be perturbed by the report, but remain focussed on his mission to position Ogun as the number one investors’ preferred destination in the country.
The Gazette had reported how Mr Rufai appeared before a federal court a day after his arrest on charges alleging he used the identities of over 100 U.S. residents to fraudulently receive more than $350,000 in unemployment benefits from the Washington State Employment Security Department during the COVID-19 pandemic last year.
Mr Rufai, a serial fraudster, was sentenced in September to five years imprisonment for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft by the U.S. district court in Western Tacoma, Washington.
The court also ordered the forfeiture of $604,260, proceeds of wire fraud from Mr Rufai.
Source: People’s Gazette
