7th July, 2010
A woman who claims to be the wife ofthe late General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, Hajiya Asabe has been arrested by men of the Nigeria Police in Lagos for allegedly defrauding several members of the public through visa scam.
Hajiya Asabe Yar-Adua was arrested in her home yesterday following several petitions to the police by members of the public over her fraudulent activities.
Police sources told our reporter that she was interrogated for several hours at the state criminal investigation department SCID, Panti, yesterday and may soon be charged to court for fraud.
Although our reporter could not confirm if Hajiya was truly the wife of the late Shehu Musa Yar-Adua, he was able to obtain a copy of one of the petitions that led to her arrest.
In the petition dated June 3, 2010, the petitioner, Liberty Chambers, acting on behalf of their client, Mr. Chijioke Onyekwuluje alleged that at various times collected over N4.5 million from him under the pretence that she was going to procure visa for him.
In one of the instances, the chamber alleged that Hajiya claimed to be the matron of the Nigerian Football Association (NFA) and promised to secure a visa to Shenge countries for their client at a cost of N650, 000.
According to the chamber, Hajiya never made good her promise but rather seized the passport of their client with a threat to deal with him if he reported the matter to the police.
The chamber said their client was only able to get back his international passport after Hajiya Asabe was remanded in prison custody sometime last year by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on a separate allegation of fraud.
—Henry Ojelu & Wole Adeboye