A prince of Lagos, Uthman Ademilade Shodipe, has petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over what he termed illegal conversion of his assets by one Dapo Alli-Balogun using his company, Corporate Building as vehicle.
This was just as the petition raises fresh questions over the fire that destroyed goods worth millions of Naira at the Apongbon Under-bridge, where the said assets in contention are located.
Shodipe said it was day after the initial arrest and release of the said Alli-Balogun that a “mysterious fire” engulfed the assets under the bridge at Apongbon, Lagos Island area of Lagos State.
Shodipe said Alli–Balogun was first arrested by the EFCC, Lagos Office but was released two hours later.
He said Alli Balogun was earlier in the year ordered to show up at the Abuja headquarters of the EFCC where the petition was submitted.
However, Shodipe said contrary to EFCC’s Establishment Act of 2004, Alli-Balogun was released without profiling or given Asset Declaration form.
Shodipe said the Sectional Head of CTGI, EFCC, Mr. Afeez Mustapha, appeared to be unhappy after he complained of the manner in which the said Alli_balogun was being handled.
He said he observed that after he complained, Mr Hafeez Mustapha of EFCC became annoyed and said he should not be told how to do his job and that Dapo Alli-Balogun was later given asset Declaration form several months after his first arrest.
Shodipe said his petition was adopted on November 11, 2021 and was endorsed by the Chairman of the Commission, Mr. Abdul Rasheed Bawa.
He however accused Mustapha of handling the case in what he called an unprofessional manner.
“He has not hidden his bias that he has compromised with the suspect. He has been openly very chummy with the suspect, exchanging his personal drinking cup with him, and other matters I will not say now. When I challenged him, that the suspect has neither been profiled nor given an asset declaration form to fill, Mr. Hafeez Mustapha got angry, flared up and said I should not teach him his job.
“Mr. Hafeez Mustapha exposed me to a very dangerous situation when he invited me to a meeting with the suspect on Wednesday, 16th February, 2022, asking me to interact with the suspect. I haven’t the vaguest idea the purpose of the meeting. I declined to engage the suspect and submitted a paper detailing my objection and also intimating Mr. Hafeez Mustapha that releasing the suspect that early is capable of compromising the case. I have been proven right.
“I have personal information that will show that Mr. Hafeez Mustapha is compromised and his integrity is not to be trusted.”, Shodipe-Dosunmu said.
He said, for instance, “I got information of the fact that he, Mustapha was in Lagos on Thursday May 5 and I have been told that Ali Balogun collected cash running into hundreds of millions of naira from about 70 traders this February. This basically confirms the fact that he had been collecting cash to evade bank records, Hafeez promised to take the statements of the victims in Lagos since he was also in Lagos at the time. But to my utter dismay, he did not. To my astonishment, this information later got to Ali-Balogun. God knows how.
“Whoever leaked this information between me and him put the lives of the witnesses at stake and basically compromised the proceedings. It is definitely not me! He is the only person I divulged the information to.
“The witnesses were later threatened by Ali -Balogun and his thugs. They have since refused to cooperate because they are scared stiff. I don’t blame them.
“My position is simply this: I do not trust Hafeez Mustapha’s probity or competence in this matter. He is now an accessory after the fact. He is neck deep in very untidy affairs. I will be appealing to the higher authority to query his role in these matters.”
” Even after the suspect had acknowledged his guilt in a written statement, Hafeez advised the suspect to be paying N5 million each whenever he chooses. This is quite outrageous. I have refused to accept the two tranches of N5 million he has brought because it shows a deliberate delay tactics. When the heck will he finish paying the debt with a meagre N5 million every other month out of a debt of N1.3 billion!”.
As at the time of filing this report, Mustapha was yet to respond to an inquiry to respond to allegation that he had compromised with Alli-Balogun.
Rather, he directed the NPO Reports to the “official Channels laid down by the commission” to get official reaction to the allegation by Prince Shodipe.
Recall that Fire had gutted the bridge in earlier on May 23 this year leading to the state government ordering traders to vacate the place.
Governor Babajide Sanwoolu had told the traders that the under bridge was not a market in its original design hence his order to quit.
In Shodipe’s suspicion, the Fire was mysterious as it happened only the following day after the release of Alli-Balogun who he accused of collecting cash funds from.