Prosecutors Want Ogun Gov’s Aide, Abidemi Rufai, Detained In U.S

• The United States Department of Justice has said that the only way to ensure that Abidemi Rufai, the Senior Special Assistant to Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, is held accountable for his alleged crimes is to order him detained.
• Rufai was alleged to have defrauded the Washington State Employment Security Department.

The United States Department of Justice has told a Magistrate Judge that the only way to ensure that Abidemi Rufai, the Senior Special Assistant to Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, is held accountable for his alleged crimes is to order him detained pending trial.

EKO HOT BLOG had earlier reported that Rufai, who’s known to be a staunch ally and longtime associate of Governor Abiodun, was arrested last Friday at JFK Airport in New York over alleged $350,000 unemployment benefits fraud.

He was alleged to have defrauded the Washington State Employment Security Department.

Rufai has since been suspended by the governor following reports of his alleged fraud.

However, new court papers have also revealed that Idris Soyemi, the husband of Nekpen Soyemi who stood as surety for Rufai, was convicted for wire fraud in 2014 after pleading guilty to the crime.

At his first detention trial on Wednesday, May 19, 2021, Ramon Reyes, a Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of New York, ordered his detention pending his trial because his brother who is an attorney in New York refused to serve as his third-party custodian.

He was, however, close to getting out of detention last Friday after Ramon Reyes, a Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of New York, ordered his release to his 3rd-party custodian Nekpen Soyemi, a registered nurse in the U.S.

READ ALSO: Abidemi Rufai, Top Aide Of Ogun Gov, Abiodun, Arrested In US Over ₦312b Job Fraud

According to Newsroom, prosecutors had raised objections to Soyemi’s competence to stand as a surety following alleged criminal activities linked to her by the Bank of America which led to the closure of her account with the bank.

Despite this claim, the judge ordered his release on a $300,000 bond co-signed by Soyemi and also imposed additional conditions of release, including that Rufai resides with Soyemi and her husband and be subject to location monitoring.

After Friday’s hearing, the Washington state prosecutors filed an appeal against the order for his release and he is now due to appear in court today for the hearing of the appeal.

In a court paper signed by Acting United States Attorney, Tessa Gorman, prosecutors are asking the court to revoke the release order and order Rufai detained pending trial, or pending his transfer to Washington.

Prosecutors told the judge that the condition that Rufai be required to live with Soyemi and her husband, who both have criminal records, will not address the flight risk.

“Rufai could simply flee the country, continue his fraudulent activities, and repay the surety with the proceeds in short order if he chose to do so.

“The bond does not provide a meaningful deterrent to flight,” prosecutors argue.

They further argued that the location monitoring ordered by the judge will not guarantee Rufai’s appearance in court.

“A defendant determined to flee can simply remove his location monitoring device and disappear, long before authorities know that he has done so.

“It would be a gross miscarriage of justice if Rufai was able to escape accountability for these crimes by fleeing the country he defrauded,” the prosecutors said.

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