Fraud: Buhari wants action on name-dropping extortionists in presidency

WIFE of the President, Aisha Buhari, has confirmed the arrest of her Aide De Camp (ADC), Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) Sani Baban-Inna, over alleged extortion using her name.

She has now called for action against persons involved in such acts in the Presidency, noting that she had always preached against it.

An online medium had reported on Tuesday that Baban-Inna was arrested for defrauding the Wife of the President to the time of N2.5 billion which he had collected from different individuals purportedly on behalf of Aisha but did not remit to her.
She has now said that she never authorized anybody to collect money on her behalf, noting that her ADC was arrested by the police, his employers, who had confirmed the crime.

In a statement issued in Abuja by Suleiman Haruna, Director of Information to Wife of the President, Aisha said her attention had been drawn to some media publications and releases purporting illegal detention of her ADC over allegations of fraud.
The statement noted that while the story has it that her ADC had been detained on her orders for dropping her name and defrauding unsuspecting officials and associates, she had no hand in his arrest and detention.

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The statement added: “She wishes to use this opportunity to refute such allegation and to state that she has no hand in his arrest and detention.
CSP Sani Baban-Inna has been her ADC since 2016 and has been associated with her ever since.

“To the utter dismay of Her Excellency, he has used the opportunity to defraud unsuspecting associates and officials as initial investigations have shown.

“The Nigeria Police Force, his employers arrested him to investigate the allegations levelled against him, this, being within their jurisdiction.

She, therefore, wishes to use this opportunity to inform the general public that she has never sent any of her staff to collect any favours on her behalf or on behalf of her children and will never do so.

“She is, therefore, imploring anyone that has been defrauded by Mr Baban-Inna to get across to him to retrieve whatever he took from them. Mrs Buhari wishes to reiterate that she will not condone fraudulent behaviour by any of her staff.

“She uses this opportunity to call on all those in positions of authority to rise above intimidation by their aides and deal with such attitudes as extortion by name-dropping, especially within the Presidency.

“As she always emphasizes, this government was voted into office based on the trust and confidence of the people.”