Mrs Adetona Funke Adebowale, an octogenarian and mother of convicted fake Army General, Bolarinwa Abiodun, has accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, of forcefully taken possession of her family house jointly owned with her husband.
She said the house in question was never known to the judgement convicted her son.
According to Mrs. Adebowale, EFCC takes laws to it’s hands by taken over her property, at a time when lawyer to her son had filed a stay of execution of the judgement.
The EFCC, following the conviction of Abiodun by Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo of a Lagos Special Offences Court, sitting took possession of a property on 1A, Joke Ayo Street, Riverside Estate, Alagbado, Lagos.
The anti graft agency also take possession of other assets in the property, including a Range Rover Sport Utility Vehicle, SUV, a black BMW car, a black Toyota Land cruiser car, and a white Toyota Hilux and handed the same property over to the victim, Mr. Bamidele Safiriyu Olusegun.
Justice Taiwo had on July 8 2022 convicted and sentenced Abiodun to seven years imprisonment and ordered him to forfeit all the proceeds of the crime.
EFCC Lagos Zonal Commander, Ahmed Ghali, while handing over the keys to the property and vehicles at the EFCC’s Lagos Command, described the development as a milestone in the fight against corruption. Ghali said Abiodun had posed as an Army General to defraud Olusegun of the sum of N266,500,000.
Describing her experience with the EFCC officials, Mrs Adebowale said she is still traumatised from the experience, explaining that the anti-graft agents forced their way into the premises like armed robbers.
“When they came, a boy went to check who was banging the gate. They kept on banging the gate and at the same time shouting on the boy to open the gate. But the boy out of fear responded that he was not with the keys to the gate. When their threats persisted, the boy asked me to come and attend to them.
“I picked the keys to the gate and went straight for the gate. I first opened the small window area of the gate and asked them what they wanted, but they didn’t answer my question, rather they insisted I open the gate. Later they said they only wanted to take a video of the house and that there’s nothing more.
“I asked why would they want to video the house, they then told me they are from the EFCC, and that they wanted to video the house. I then tried to explain to them that the house belongs to my husband and I, and not my son that was in their custody, ” she said.
Mrs Adebowale noted that she later opened the gate for the EFCC officials, after persistent threats and banging of the gate.
Her words: “There was this man wearing a white dress. He was the one carrying the camera. But as they entered they started packing our belongings, so I reminded them that they only said they wanted to video the house and the premises before I allowed them inside. They then told me that all our personal effects in the house now belong to them.
“I protested telling them to go and ask the person in their custody, where his own house his. I tried to explain to them that the house belongs to my husband and I, but they shouted at me saying they are not interested in the nonsense I wanted to tell them.
“They later asked me for the keys to my son’s room and his office, I told them I don’t have them. The room I was using before, which was then occupied by our visitors, was later ransacked while one of them was trying to break into the other rooms I told them I wasn’t with the keys. When I challenged the man trying to break the doors, he told me that even the property in the house is not enough to pay the debt owned by my son,” she explained.
The Octogenarian said all the doors that she couldn’t find the keys were eventually forcefully broken into by the EFCC agents.
“There’s nothing they didn’t move from the rooms. Even the ram that my brother’s son bought for me for the Salah celebration, was taken away along with my domestic goats. My live turkeys in the compound were also taken as well as my dog. All the split air-conditioners in the house were removed and carted away. Only the bed without foams were left and they warned me that if they come back and meet me in the house, they won’t consider my age.”
Mrs Adebowale further noted that the EFCC officials left with her money, running into over N12million, gold necklaces, wristwatches and other expensive jewelries that worth several millions of naira.
“They virtually turned the entire house into an empty space. They even went away with the plastic basin we use in washing clothes. The total cash they carted away from the house was about 12million, 30 thousand naira. The money cannot even be compared to the other expensive things, like gold chains or necklaces, wristwatches and jewelries that my daughter recently sent to me from abroad. In fact, an entire white-color jewelry box was taken away from the house.h
“They also carried the deep freezer and a large size fridge in the house. As I speak to you now there’s nothing left in the house. I was even asking them what they wanted to do with the plastic basins, gas cylinders and the iron pots that they took.”
She also named of some of the anti-graft personnels, who carried out the raid to include Rotimi Oyedepo, Alfa Suleiman and one Kobi, she accused the officials of attempting to plant drugs in the house during the raid.
“As they were about leaving after they had packed everything, one of them suddenly called me, and asked that I should come and see something. When I got to him, he showed me a whitish substance on the table that looks like a powder and said my son was also into drug.
“I told him immediately that my son had never smoked cigarette before let alone hard drug, and insisted that it was obvious that they brought and planted it there. I also insisted that they must carry their property. One of them now said they don’t intend to prosecute him over the drug. But I insisted that, that was why they were chased me away while they were ransacking and raiding the house, “she added.
