The Department of State Services, DSS, on Monday paraded a middle aged woman, Amina Mohammed, for impersonating the wife of the President, Aisha Buhari, using her name to defraud unsuspecting Nigerians.
She was also said to have claimed at one time to be the wife of Kogi state governor.
At a media briefing in Abuja, DSS spokesperson, Peter Afunanya, said Amina also known as Justina Oluoha and Amina Villa, pretending to be Aisha Buhari had defrauded a Lagos-based businessman of N150 million.
“The importance of this conference is to unveil the identity of a suspect that had an unauthorized access to the Aso Rock Presidential Villa and used the Office of the First Lady to engage in a fraudulent act. The woman, who is being paraded, has adopted various aliases and used the same false identities to defraud several unsuspecting persons before she was discovered.
“Amina Mohammed, also known as Justina Oluoha and Amina Villa, had on November 22, 2017, paraded herself as the First Lady of Kogi State.
“She used the false identity to evade protocol and scrutiny thus gaining unauthorized access into the Villa, and particularly the residence of the First Lady and wife of the president, Hajia Aisha Buhari. She took advantage of the fact that personalities such as first ladies, ministers and certain categories of officials are not taken through rigorous protocol and security checks at the Villa posts.
“What may even surprise you is that Amina, whose phone number is registered with the name, Amina Villa, had on the said date invited one Dr. Alexander Chika Okafor, also known as Chikason; into the Villa wherein she made him believe the invitation was at the instance of the First Lady.
“Investigation has revealed that the First Lady was away on lesser hajj and not in the Villa during the period. The businessman had complained that he was fleeced of over N150 million in respect of a Court of Appeal property in Lagos, which Amina had promised to help him buy through the First Lady.
“The property was said to have been part of those under the Presidential Implementation Committee on Lease of Federal Government Properties. Investigation has shown that this unholy enterprise is not to the knowledge of the First Lady. What Amina simply did was to use the First Lady’s name and office as bait to lure and defraud her victims.
“Members of the public are advised to be wary of individuals or groups that drop names and offices of high government officials to defraud them.”
But Amina claimed she did not act alone alleging that she was in working in cohort with Aisha Buhari’s sister Mariatu and a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF.
She said: “The DSS did not arrest me, I came here on their invitation. I am not a fraudster. I am a citizen of this country. The former SGF, is involved in this fraud. Aisha’s sister is involved. I did not dupe Chikason because he usually gave bribe to buy Federal Government property. The directors in the ministry have been involved in getting bribe before bidding is concluded.
“He knows the process and taking him into Villa was not an attempt to defraud him but because Aisha’s sister was involved. I cannot allow anybody to put me to shame to the whole world.”
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Asked if she has entered the Villa, she replied: “Ask the First Lady’s sisters, ex-SGF is involved. Leave me alone.”
However, spokesman for the DSS denied claims by the suspect that she had been kept against her will for four months.
He said, “She has not been detained for four months, we invited her and she honoured our invitations.”
