Ex-President Jonathan’s top aide, Waripamowei Dudafa, arrested at Lagos airport

Nigerian security operatives have arrested a former Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on Domestic Matters, Waripamowei Dudafa, while attempting to travel out of the country through the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos.

A source at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission told PREMIUM TIMES that Mr. Dudafa was on the anti-graft agency’s wanted list for his alleged involvement in the sharing of N10billion to delegates during the December 2014 presidential primaries of the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party.

Mr. Dudafa allegedly converted the money into US dollars, amounting to $47million, and distributed to delegates from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

Investigators say they believe the fund was part of the alleged $2.1billion meant for the purchase of arms but which authorities said was shared as slush funds to politicians through the office of a former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki.

Sources at the EFCC told PREMIUM TIMES that Mr. Dudafa was arrested and quizzed by the operatives of the State Security Service, SSS, before he was handed over to the EFCC on Monday.

“He has been on our wanted list for a long time and he evaded arrest on several occasions,” a top EFCC official, who asked not to be named, said.

Contacted, the spokesperson of the EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, declined comment on the matter.

The anti-graft agency had recently arrested Mr. Jonathan’s Aide de Camp, Ojogbane Adegbe, allegedly on the directive of the Nigerian Army and later his ally, Jide Omokore, over a series of multi-billion dollar petrol import and crude export deals.

Nigeria’s secret police, the SSS, also arrested and later dismissed the ex-president’s Chief Security Officer, Gordon Obua, alongside the spokesperson of the agency, Marilyn Ogar and several others.