I received $4m cash from Jonathan's aide, Dudafa- Witness tells court

A witness in the trial of former Senior Special Assistant of Domestic Affairs to President Goodluck Jonathan, Waripamo-Owei Dudafa, Murtala Abubakar who is a bureau de change operator, yesterday told the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos how he got $4 million cash from Dudafa for immediate conversion into Naira.

Dudafa is currently standing trial on a 23-count charge of concealment, retention of proceeds of crime, and failure to furnish information before Justice Mohammed Idris.

According to The Nation, Abubakar while testifying before the court, recounted how he received about N1.6 billion from Dudafa through five companies – Pluto Properties and Investment Limited, Avalon Global Property, Rotato Interlink Services, Seagate Property and Ebiwise Services Limited – between 2013 and 2015. Mustapha said he had known Dudafa since his days as Commissioner for Local Government in Bayelsa State.

“He (Mr. Dudafa) usually sent two of his employees – Festus and Jahman – with dollars in order to change same and deposit the naira equivalent into specific accounts he provided via text messages,” he said

According to Abubakar, he received those text messages from Mr. Dudafa on his Samsung mobile phone. The mobile phone and an Ownership Attestation Form were admitted and marked as Exhibits E and E1 respectively.

When asked whether all the instructions on how to disburse the money were received via text messages, the witness said yes but added that in the last transaction, Dudafa invited him to the Presidential Villa and handed to him $4 million cash. The witness was confronted with exhibits A – B3 in which he identified all the transactions that transpired between himself and Dudafa from 2013 to 2015 both from his companies’ accounts and his personal account.