Octogenarian Accuses EFCC Of Illegal Property Takeover

Mrs Adetona Funke Adebowale, an octogenarian and mother of convicted fake Army General, Bolarinwa Abiodun, has accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of forcefully taking possession of her family house.

She said she jointly owns the house with her husband.

She said the property was taken over despite her son filing a stay of execution of the judgment convicting him.

The EFCC, following the conviction of Abiodun by Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo of a Lagos Special Offences Court, took possession of the property on 1A, Joke Ayo Street, Riverside Estate, Alagbado, Lagos.

The anti-graft agency also took possession of other assets in the property, including assorted vehicles.

Justice Taiwo had on July 8 convicted and sentenced Abiodun to seven years imprisonment and ordered him to forfeit all the proceeds of the crime.

Mrs Adebowale said she was traumatised by the operatives who came to seize the properties.

She said: “They insisted I open the gate. Later they said they only wanted to take a video of the house and nothing more. I tried to explain to them that the house belongs to my husband and I, and not my son that was in their custody.

“As they entered, they started packing our belongings. I reminded them that they only said they wanted to video the house. They then told me that all our personal effects in the house now belonged to them.

“I protested, telling them to go and ask the person in their custody where his own house is. I tried to explain to them that the house belongs to my husband and I, but they shouted at me, saying they were not interested in the nonsense I wanted to tell them.”

She added: “They later asked me for the keys to my son’s room and his office. I told them I did not have them. The room I was using before, which was then occupied by our visitors, was later ransacked.

“While one of them was trying to break into the other rooms I told them I wasn’t with the keys.

“When I challenged the man trying to break the doors, he told me that even the property in the house was not enough to pay the debt owed by my son.”

The octogenarian said all the doors that she could not find the keys to were forcefully broken into.

“There’s nothing they didn’t move from the rooms. Even the ram that my brother’s son bought for me for the Salah celebration was taken away along with my domestic goats.

“My live turkeys in the compound were also taken as well as my dog. All the split air-conditioners in the house were removed and carted away.

“Only the beds without foams were left and they warned me that if they come back and meet me in the house, they won’t consider my age.”

Mrs Adebowale said the EFCC officials left with her over N12 million, gold necklaces, wristwatches and other expensive jewellery worth several millions of naira.

She added: “They virtually turned the entire house into an empty space. They even went away with the plastic basin we use in washing clothes. The total cash they took away from the house was about N12million.

“The money cannot even be compared to the other expensive things, like gold chains or necklaces, wristwatches and jewellery that my daughter recently sent to me from abroad.

“In fact, an entire white-colour jewellery box was taken away from the house.h

“They also carried the deep freezer and a large size fridge in the house. As I speak to you now there’s nothing left in the house.

“I was even asking them what they wanted to do with the plastic basins, gas cylinders and the iron pots they took.

“As they were about to leave after they had packed everything, one of them suddenly called me and asked that I should come and see something.

“When I got to him, he showed me a whitish substance on the table that looked like a powder and said my son was also into drugs.

“I told him immediately that my son had never smoked a cigarette before let alone a hard drug, and insisted that it was obvious that they brought and planted it there. I also insisted that they must carry their property.

“One of them said they don’t intend to prosecute him over the drug. But I insisted that that was why they chased me away while ransacking and raiding the house.”

EFCC spokesman Wilson Uwujaren did not respond to a request for comments as of press time.