A former Peoples Democratic Party governorship aspirant in Plateau State, Godfrey Bawa, has been accused of defrauding a Bureau de Change operator in Lagos of $30,500.

The BDC operator, Abdullahi Zakari, alleged that he was approached by one of his colleagues, who was Bawa’s customer sometime in 2017 that the politician needed someone, who could fund his account in the United State of America with $30,500, while he would give the person the naira equivalent of the amount in Nigeria.

According to Zakari, the $30,500 was paid in tranches by one of his customers in the US into the account number provided by Bawa and domiciled in the Bank of America.

It was gathered that after the money was paid into the account provided by Bawa, he allegedly refused to pay the naira equivalent to Zakari.

According to Zakari, all efforts to recover the money from Bawa have proved abortive as he is allegedly using his political influence to evade arrest.

He said, “Sometime in 2017, I was approached by one of my colleagues, Abdulsalam Yahaya, alias Mekudi, through another colleague, Yakubu Edibo, that one of his customers needed dollars for a business transaction in America and I told them that I had a customer there, who wanted to send about $30,500 to me.

“I was given an account where the money would be paid to in the US with a promise that I would be given the naira equivalent in Nigeria. So, my customer the $30,500 in tranches into Bawa’s account and sent the payment slips to me; but after receiving the money, Bawa started coming up with stories that he had not received the money and that his account had been blocked.

“When I was unable to confirm the payment, my customer had to fly to Nigeria to resolve the issue. When he came, Bawa was still maintaining that he did not receive any money and my customer told him that he was the one, who paid the money into the account that Bawa provided at the Bank of America and suggested that they should go to America to confirm from the bank and rectify any error or report to the FBI; that was when Bawa said we should not worry that the money had been confirmed to be in his account and that if he goes to America, he would see my client.

“My customer  waited for three weeks without seeing Bawa despite that he was in the US; he neither pay him the naira equivalent nor tried to see my customer. I had to pay the money back to my customer, but when I got to know that Bawa was contesting the governorship primary of the PDP in Plateau State, I contacted him but he started begging that he would come to Lagos to pay the money.

“He promised that he would be paying N2m every month, but I have not got anything from him; this is what I have been suffering for almost three years. I have not done anything wrong; this man is using his political influence to sit on my money.”

Zakari added that he petitioned the police Special Fraud Unit when he realised that Bawa was not ready to pay the money as all efforts to get him to pay had proved abortive.

When journalists contacted Bawa, he refused to comment on the matter and threatened to sue our correspondent if the story was published.

He said, “What is the business of journalists in this matter? Are you a debt collector? You can go ahead with whatever you want to write and I know what to do too; I will sue the company because I don’t know where you guys come in this.

“This is a private transaction that doesn’t concern any newspapers. We are a corporate organisation and he (Zakari) knows the right place to go, which he has done. I don’t have anything to say because they are private transactions. I have told you clearly that he knows the right place to go and if you publish anything, I will sue you big time.”

However, a police source who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed to our correspondent that Bawa admitted to collecting the money from Zakari.

He said, “When the matter was reported and we arrested the man (Bawa), he said the transaction was fraudulent but he confirmed that he took the money. He said his account was blocked and I told him that if there was a flag that the money was fraudulent, he wouldn’t be able to withdraw it from his account, because it would have been blocked by the bank.

“The case is a clear case of obtaining money from the complainant by false pretences and not wanting to pay back. The man (Bawa) took the money and he didn’t deny taking it, but he has refused to pay back.”

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Plateau PDP ex-governorship aspirant alleged to have defrauded Bureau De Change operator