Akpan-Jacobs made the revelation on Wednesday at an Ikeja High Court on the second day of the trial-within-trial proceedings to determine his statements to the anti-graft agency.
Nsikakabasi
Akpan-Jacobs, a pastor charged with defrauding Mrs Titi Atiku, the wife of
former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar of N918 million, has alleged that he was
detained for three weeks by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in
Abuja on Mrs Atiku’s orders.
While
being led in evidence by Mr Amos Ibe, his defence counsel, Akpan-Jacobs said,
“I was first arrested by the Lagos office of the EFCC.
“On the
days when I honoured their invitation, I gave statements at various times to
different operatives namely– Mr Dapo, Mr Kabir, Mr Lawal as well as a team of
investigators comprising a lady and two men.
“I
received an unexpected call from the EFCC on February 5, 2009 which I honoured
and when I arrived, I was taken straight to the airport.
“When I
asked what was wrong, they told me that it was based on ‘orders from above’, I
immediately called my wife and lawyer to inform them of the development.
“When I
arrived in Abuja, I was taken to an underground detention facility, the
sureties in my bail by the EFCC were to be two directors in the civil service,
who had landed property in Abuja.
“When I
saw the bail conditions, I told the second defendant that these people want to
keep me here in perpetuity.”
The
defendant, who is Titi’s business partner, alleged that he was taken from the
underground detention facility belonging to the EFCC in Abuja and was
interrogated by Mr Pascal, Mr Oron, and Mr Baba-kura, operatives of the EFCC.
According
to him, if his written statement was not satisfactory, operatives will shred
the document and order him to write a fresh statement containing sentences
approved by them.
“Baba-kura,
who was the head of the unit, acted like he owned the whole world and My Lord,
to be honest, I gave it back to them.
“However, when
I was released, they were not going to budge; so, I wrote the statements.
“While in
Abuja, I had pneumonia, high blood pressure and the various times I went back
to my cell, I had to lie down because I was standing all day.
“My Lord,
Mr Chima (a member of Titi Atiku’s legal team) read the statements I wrote to
make sure I was writing what they wanted.
“I did not
give any undertaking while I was detained, an undertaking was brought to me by
Mr Chima which I signed.
“I signed
the undertaking to save the second defendant because the EFCC put so much
pressure on him to turn against me and out of pity, I had to sign the
undertaking.
“All the
statements I wrote were signed but not dated, I dated all my statements in one
day under the instruction of the EFCC, I did not have access to my phones as
well as my lawyer, who was within reach.
“I never
saw Florence Doregos (Mrs Atiku) at the EFCC office she never came despite the
EFCC operatives telling me that she would come.
“I want
the court to reject the statements I gave to the EFCC,” Akpan-Jacobs pleaded.
Earlier
during proceedings, a lawyer, Mr Ikhide Daniels, testified that the EFCC denied
him access to Akpan-Jacobs and Abdulmalik Ibrahim, the second defendant while
they were in custody in Abuja.
He told the
court:“On Feb. 5, 2009, on my way to the Court of Appeal, I got a distress call
from the wife of the second defendant that the EFCC had invaded their residence
and their premises sealed off.
“I got a
call from an unidentified person that they were en route to Abuja, I got to
Abuja at about 3.30 pm or 4.00 pm and I got to the EFCC office about 30 to 35
minutes later.
“The team
that took the defendants to Abuja was the Chairman’s Special Monitoring Unit, I
requested to see the first and second defendants but they never obliged me.”
Daniels
also disputed the Oct. 24 testimony of Dickson Graymond, a retired detective of
the EFCC, that the Akpan-Jacobs gave his statements voluntarily.
The lawyer
alleged that the defendants were brought to Abuja from Lagos due to Atiku’s
influence.
“In Abuja,
I asked Graymond about their bail and he said that I should tell Akpan-Jacobs
to cooperate with the EFCC.
“Graymond
said that there was a special order from above to bring the defendants to Abuja
and that is why the case was assigned to the chairman’s team.
“The
defendants spent three weeks in Abuja, I was in Abuja to make sure that they
had legal representation and to secure their release but the only time I had
access to them was the night they were released.
“After we
left Abuja for Lagos, their spirits were down and they were in shock
necessitating our fundamental human rights suit at the Federal High Court,
Abuja.
“The EFCC
gave a lot of subtle, draconian threats while they were in custody such as
‘there are orders from above’ and ‘eyes are watching you’.
“We went
to Federal High Court to nullify the statements and undertaking on the grounds
that they were not given voluntarily.
“Graymond,
in his testimony, said that their office at the FCDA was an open office, that
statement isn’t true, the EFCC office at the FCDA had little cubicles that does
not allow one to see what’s going on inside.
“It was
not an open office because I could not see all that was going on there,” he
said.
Counsel to
the EFCC, Mr Babatunde Sonoiki, while cross-examining Daniels, alleged that the
lawyer never came to Abuja to see his clients.
Sonoiki
also denied that the Abuja office of the anti-graft agency had a detention
facility and that the disputed undertaking was not made by Akpan-Jacobs while
he was in EFCC custody in Abuja.
Responding,
Daniels said: “I came to your Abuja office, your logbook will show that I was
there, I was not there when the undertaking was given by Akpan-Jacobs because I
was denied access to him.
“I am not
aware that Akpan-Jacobs brought a manager’s cheque to EFCC Abuja as a result of
the undertaking.
“The FCDA
where the Chairman’s Special Unit is based had no detention centre, the
detention centre is located somewhere else, the location I cannot remember.”
The EFCC
had charged Akpan-Jacobs, Ibrahim, a lawyer; and Dana Motors Ltd on 14-count
bordering on conspiracy, stealing and fraudulent conversion of property worth
N918m belonging to THA Shipping Maritime Services Ltd.
THA
Shipping Maritime Services Ltd, a company created in 2000, is owned by Mrs
Atiku, Akpan-Jacobs and Fred Holmes, her German business partner.
Mrs Atiku
was allegedly the majority shareholder with 49 per cent shares, while Messrs.
Holmes and Akpan-Jacobs each had 25 per cent shares.
Akpan-Jacobs,
who also doubled as the company’s Managing Director and Secretary, was alleged
to have gone to the Corporate Affairs Commission to alter the shareholding in
his favour and forged the company’s board resolutions.
Under the
new shareholding arrangement, he allegedly allotted 51 per cent shares to
himself and 24.5 percent shares each to Mrs Atiku and Mr Holmes.
According
to the EFCC, welding a fraudulent shareholding power, Akpan-Jacobs also sold a
property belonging to the company to Dana Motors Nigeria Ltd for N918m.
The
property is located at Plot C63, Amuwo-Odofin Commercial Layout, along
Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, Lagos.
Justice
Oluwatoyin Ipaye adjourned the case until Dec. 12 for the conclusion of the
trial-within-trial.
(NAN)
Nigeria is still backward and corrupt why will an undertaking be forced upon one
ReplyDeleteYou too where is the money?
ReplyDelete