Matilda Omonaiye/
Allegations of N41million extortion levelled by one Afeez Mojeed in a publication against Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Abba Kyari has been described by a lawyer as a sponsored falsehood and blackmail meant to tarnish the image of the celebrated crime fighter.
Debunking the allegation in a statement sent to NewsmakersNG, Barr. Hamza Nuhu revealed that one Afeez Mojeed, who wrote a petition on which the media report was based, is a suspected criminal that was charged to court following police investigations of an alleged N94 million fraud.
Nuhu frowned at what he described as an unbalanced publication by The Cable following a petition that Mojeed filed on October 22, 2020, through his counsel, Salawu Akingbolu & Co, at the newly formed judicial panel of inquiry and restitution for victims of SARS-related abuses in Lagos.
In the petition, Kyari and some officers were accused of forcefully taking about 32 items from Mojeed’s house during a raid in 2014.
But, Nuhu described Mojeed as a fraudster who defrauded a victim of N94million.
He stated: “He was arrested 6yrs ago and N41million was recovered from the proceeds of the crime which he voluntarily paid the victim (Owner of the money) back directly through the victim’s Bank Account.
“He confessed on video and in writing that he bought Honda Account 2008 model and N7m land from the N94m he defrauded and that he had squandered the remaining N31m on hotels and girlfriends. He submitted the car and land documents which were registered as exhibits before he was charged to court and after some years he was discharged not acquitted from court because the complainant was not coming to court as most Nigerians do.
“The land document and the car registered as exhibits are still kept with the exhibit keeper in Lagos.
“The criminal will be re-arrested and charged to court again as he was not acquitted by the court. The complainant has assured the Police that he is in Nigeria now and he is ready to be attending the court process until his case is concluded this time around because he said he would not leave his balance of N31m to the fraudster.
“We are surprised the fraudster is mentioning Abba Kyari’s name as if he gave him a kobo. He has not given him one kobo and it’s on record that the respected officer has never collected money from any of his suspects despite the thousands of cases he has handled all these years.
“He wouldn’t have been who he is today if he is a cheap corrupt officer like this. He has no evidence of giving Abba Kyari one kobo. It’s all lies from a criminal that was charged to court. Let him prove all the lies he is talking. Also, the criminal should know that giving false information is still an offence in Nigeria for which one can be charged to Court.
“With just N50,000 now a lawyer can write a Petition for you based on any false allegations you make without a prove against anybody and you can leak it to the media, and if the person in question has a name or he is known in the country it will sell. But legal actions will be taken because criminals like this cannot try such and go free.
“If it’s true that somebody took his N41million, what is he doing throughout the last 6 years? Why didn’t he go to the ICPC, EFCC or Court?
“Some Human Rights Lawyers have declared on their own that they will sue the fraudster for defamation of character this Friday.”
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