James Ojo, Abuja
The National Coordinator, Federal Civil Service Staff with Disabilities Multipurpose Cooperative Society, Alhaji Iliasu Olarewaju Abdul-Rauf, has been arrested by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) over alleged fraud of N1.7 billion.
The anti-graft agency further dragged the suspect to the Senior Magistrate Court, Wuse Zone 2, Abuja, seeking an order for his remand in prison.
Abdul-Rauf was alleged to have been involved in multiple corrupt acts, including bribery, breach of trust, criminal misappropriation and other frauds running into hundreds of millions of naira.
According to ICPC spokesperson, Rasheedat Okoduwa, after his arrest, a search of his house by operatives of the Commission revealed 14 females between the ages of 11 and 33 years, locked up in one of the rooms and were evacuated.
The ladies were later handed over to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) for further investigation.
Okoduwa added that the suspect, who is also facing multiple charges earlier pressed on him by ICPC, was said to have been on the run from some other security agencies in Nigeria.
“He is alleged to have used his position as the National Coordinator of persons with disabilities cooperative society to hoodwink contractors into donating cash and items such as wheelchairs, crutches, etc. as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for non-existent contracts.
“Some of the contractors are said to have paid as much as N50 million as the CSR, while others delivered large numbers of items to him,” she added.
The Commission, in the motion filed before the court, stated that Abdul-Rauf allegedly failed to rehabilitate “disability centres” across the country after collecting N1.7 billion from various contractors under the guise of awarding contracts for the project.