Aisha Buhari’s ADC arrested over alleged fraud

The Aide- de- camp to the Wife of the President, Aisha Buhari, CSP Sani BabaInna was arrested because he allegedly duped many unsuspecting prominent personalities including the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, a source in the State House said yesterday.

Baba-Inna, who was named as the ADC of the President’s wife in 2016, has been in detention since last Friday. He was reportedly arrested by the Police and later moved to a facility of the Department of State Service (DSS) in Abuja.

The Premium Times, an online news platform, had reported that the President’s wife ordered the arrest of the ADC over an allegation of N2.5 billion fraud.

A Presidential Villa source privy to the issue said the ADC was arrested following series of fraudulent activities including using the name of the President’s wife to swindle unsuspecting prominent personalities in the country.

The source who did not want to be named, however said it wasn’t Mrs Buhari that ordered the arrest of the ADC.

“It wasn’t Madam that ordered for his arrest. He duped people including the IGP. To say Mrs Buhari was instrumental to his arrest was unfair and wrong. She cannot stop the investigation.

“The fact is that, he collected money from people. He did not dupe Mrs Buhari, thus it is not her problem. If his employers called him back for probe and they say they want to discipline him for misconduct, Madam cannot have problem with that,” he said. Asked how the ADC operated, he said, “He may tell them that Madam has a project needed to be funded or executed. And the people will mobilize fund for it, even when there is nothing like that.”

On how they arrived at N2.5bn, the source said Mrs Buhari has no information about that.

“All she knows is that he (the ADC) duped people. They have reported it and he is being investigated,” the source added.

The President’s wife in a statement last night by her spokesperson, Suleiman Haruna, said she had no hand in his arrest and detention.

She said Baban-Inna has been her ADC since 2016.

The statement said, “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 called 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.

However, the family of the ADC told our correspondent that the whole issue was a mere conspiracy to edge the ADC out office.

One of his family members told our correspondent that the whole issue was concocted by a colleague of the ADC, who has been eyeing his job for long.

“In all confidentiality, all these are just conspiracy by a colleague of his. There is a colleague of his who has been eyeing his seat for long. He was the one that concocted the whole thing.

“He was the one that submitted to Madam the allegations and she swallowed it hook, line and sinker, without giving the benefit of doubt to the ADC to defend himself. She was the one that ordered for his arrest. The claim that the IGP was also involved was nothing but a lie, otherwise, the police wouldn’t have cleared my brother,” he said on condition of anonymity.

He also said it was after the police investigation that his brother was taken to the DSS, when the President’s wife was not satisfied with the investigation.

“He was moved to a DSS facility on Saturday around 9pm. They have allowed his wife to see him. They said they have evidence against him, let them bring it forward,” he said.

It’s a mere conspiracy ADC’s family