BEVERLY HILLS, May 27, (THEWILL) – A U.S. court for the Western District of Washington, has ordered the indefinite detaining of Abidemi Rufai, the now suspended aide of Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State.
THEWILL reports that 42-year-old Rufai, who served as the Deputy Director-General of the Dapo Abiodun Campaign Organisation in the last governorship election in the state, was arrested on May 14 at the JFK Airport in New York in the US.
His arrest followed a criminal complaint of alleged wire fraud for his scheme to steal over $350,000 in unemployment benefits from the Washington State Employment Security Department.
He was subsequently charged with defrauding the Washington State Employment Security Department of over $350,000.
Although his lawyer, Michael Barrows, said Rufai denied “involvement in these transactions,” Governor Abiodun has suspended him.
Rufai, in his first appearance in court last week, was denied bail because his brother (Alaba Rufai), who is listed in court records, could not post the $300,000 surety bond for his bail.
He got a nurse, Nekpen Soyemi, to stand in for him as surety but the U.S. government said Ms Soyemi is also a suspected fraudster and could not be allowed to stand surety for Rufai.
He was supposed to be released on Wednesday but the court, Presided over by Benjamin Settle granted a motion by the US government for “a stay of the release order.”
“The release order is STAYED, and the defendant shall remain in custody pending this Court’s decision on the government’s motion for review,” Settle ruled.
