Michael AndeyinThe State Security Service (SSS), Ogun State, has arrested Olamikan Hammed, a blogger and publisher of EaglesForeSight, for undisclosed charges.
Festus Ogun, activist and counsel for the blogger who has been in detention for three days, made a statement on the detention on Sunday.
“The Ogun State Command of the State Security Service (SSS) has arrested and detained blogger and publisher of EaglesForeSight, Prince Olamilekan Hammed (Lahbash), for reasons yet to be disclosed,” Ogun wrote.
Olamilekan Hammed
The State Security Service in Ogun invited Hammed for questioning on Friday, according to Ogun, and he honoured the invitation, only to be detained in relation to articles about Dapo Abiodun, the Governor of Ogun State, on his website.
“The supposed invitation bordered on reports published by the blogger exposing the criminal activities of Dapo Abiodun in the United States,” Ogun wrote.
“Mr Hammed, since arrested, has continued to face unjust harassment, torture and intimidation for merely doing his job as a citizen journalist after being forced to pull down the story from his website.
“Given that journalism is not a crime in this country, the earlier invitations, recent arrest and subsequent detention of Prince Olamilekan Hammed by the SSS is completely illegal and a naked abuse of power. Sections 34, 35 and 39 of the 1999 Constitution are clear on this.
Ogun believes the governor is abusing his powers to silence his client who only did his job by “amplifying publicly available records”.
Also, Ogun faulted the SSS and claimed it had served as a tool of intimidation by Abiodun.
“This naked abuse of power stands condemned. The willingness of lawless SSS to be used as tools of intimidation and state repression also stands condemned. For how long will this daylight fascism continue?” He asked.
“The SSS must release Prince Olamilekan Hammed immediately and unconditionally. We will stop at nothing to enforce his media and human rights if our modest demands are not met immediately.”
SWP Online Source from ojoojoo.com search engine made several calls to the SSS, but they were not answered. A text message sent to them had also not been responded to at press time.
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Nigerian citizen pleads guilty to COVID-19 unemployment fraud on Washington and 17 other states
Tacoma – A 45-year-old resident of Lekki, Nigeria, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft for using stolen identities to claim hundreds of thousands of dollars in pandemic-related unemployment benefits, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. Abidemi Rufai has been in custody since his arrest at New York’s JFK airport in May 2021. At the time of his arrest, Rufai was the Special Assistant to the Governor of Nigeria’s Ogun State.
According to the plea agreement, since 2017, Rufai unlawfully obtained the personal identifying information for more than 20,000 Americans to submit more than $2 million in claims for federally funded benefits under a variety of relief programs. The various agencies involved paid out more than $600,000.
The largest amount of fraud was committed against the Washington State Employment Security Department, which paid out $350,763 in fraudulent pandemic unemployment claims to accounts controlled by Rufai. Rufai also submitted fraudulent pandemic unemployment claims in at least 17 other states.
Rufai also defrauded the Small Business Administration (SBA) by attempting to obtain Economic Injury Disaster loans (EIDL) tied to the COVID-19 pandemic. Between April 8, 2020, and June 26, 2020, he submitted 19 fraudulent EIDL applications. SBA paid out $10,000 based on the applications.
Between 2017 and 2020, Rufai attempted to obtain more than $1.7 million in IRS tax refunds by submitting 675 false claims. The IRS paid out $90,877 on these claims.
Rufai’s efforts to enrich himself with false disaster claims did not start with COVID-19. In September and October 2017, he submitted 49 disaster relief claims connected to Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma. He filed $24,500 in false claims and was paid on 13 claims totaling $6,500.
Rufai has agreed to pay full restitution to the defrauded agencies.
Wire fraud in relation to a presidentially declared major disaster or emergency is punishable by up to 30 years in prison. Aggravated identity theft is punishable two years in prison to follow any prison term imposed on another charge. Prosecutors have agreed to recommend no more than 71 months in prison. The recommendation is not binding on U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle, who will determine the appropriate sentence on August 15, 2022, after considering the sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.
This case was investigated by the FBI, with assistance from the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations, Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General, and the United States Small Business Administration Office of the Inspector General. The Washington Employment Security Department is cooperating in the investigation.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Seth Wilkinson and Cindy Chang of the Western District of Washington.
On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information on the department’s response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.
Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.
Rufai has been in detention since his arrest in New York in May 2021.
The US government arraigned him on 15 counts of fraud and identity theft at the District Court for the Western District of Washington, Tacoma, on June 25, 2021.
He is accused of using the identities of more than 100 Washington residents to steal more than $350,000 in unemployment benefits from the Washington State Employment Security Department (ESD) during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
In a statement on Tuesday, the US department of justice said Rufai admitted using stolen identities to receive thousands of dollars in pandemic-related unemployment benefits.
He also admitted to having obtained identifying information since 2017 for more than 20,000 Americans, submitted $2 million in claims for disaster relief and other federal benefits, and received more than $600,000.
The largest amount of fraud was committed against the Washington state employment security department, which paid out $350,763 in fraudulent pandemic unemployment claims to accounts controlled by Rufai.
Rufai was also said to have submitted fraudulent pandemic unemployment claims in at least 17 other states including Hawaii, Wyoming, Massachusetts, Montana, New York, and Pennsylvania.
“Rufai also defrauded the Small Business Administration (SBA) by attempting to obtain Economic Injury Disaster loans (EIDL) tied to the COVID-19 pandemic. Between April 8, 2020, and June 26, 2020, he submitted 19 fraudulent EIDL applications. SBA paid out $10,000 based on the applications,” the statement reads.
“Between 2017 and 2020, Rufai attempted to obtain more than $1.7 million in IRS tax refunds by submitting 675 false claims. The IRS paid out $90,877 on these claims.
“Rufai’s efforts to enrich himself with false disaster claims did not start with COVID-19. In September and October 2017, he submitted 49 disaster relief claims connected to Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma. He filed $24,500 in false claims and was paid on 13 claims totalling $6,500.”
The US authorities said Rufai has agreed to make full restitution to the defrauded agencies.
Rufai faces up to 32 years in prison for wire fraud related to a presidentially declared disaster and aggravated identity theft but the US justice department said prosecutors have agreed to recommend no more than 71 months in prison.
This comes a few weeks after Governor Abiodun confirmed he was arrested in the United States over credit card fraud and forgery in 1986.
The governor disclosed this while responding to a petition submitted by an APC member, Ayodele Oludiran on behalf of Oluwatobi Sofela of Ogun Bibire Unity Forum to the National Chairman of the party, Abdulahi Adamu.
Sofela had warned that the party might lose the governorship seat in Ogun due to Abiodun’s criminal history and its concealment from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) despite swearing an oath.
SaharaReporters had in March published the criminal record of how Abiodun was jailed in 1986 for credit card fraud in Miami Dade Florida, USA.
The governor was said to have used a pseudo name (Shawn Michael Davids) with the aim of concealing his criminal identity.
The record revealed that Abiodun was jailed for committing criminal offences which bordered on credit card fraud, petty theft and check forgery.
He was arrested on November 7, 1986, for fighting and injuring a police officer in an attempt to resist arrest.
While being processed at the station, his fingerprint was run through the crime database and it was discovered that the Adedapo Oluseun Abiodun being processed for detention was the same as Shawn Michael Davids.
His criminal record and history were thus cemented and he was jailed.
According to some documents obtained by SaharaReporters, Abiodun’s jail number was 8600B9436.
In 2015, while contesting for the Ogun East Senatorial seat against the late Buruji Kasamu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), he applied for the redaction of his criminal records in Miami Dade, Florida.
