The Department of State Services has arrested one Mohammed Momoh for posing as an aide to the Chief of Staff to the President, Ibrahim Gambari, to defraud one Benson Abiogu of $50,000.
Momoh, a former worker at the Presidential Villa, allegedly requested the money to secure a political appointment for Abiogu as the Special Adviser to the President on Oil and Gas, Punch Newspaper reports.
The Public Relations Officer, DSS, Dr Peter Afunanya, who paraded the Kogi State indigene in Abuja on Tuesday, said investigation revealed that Momoh and his group never acted on behalf of or for the Chief of Staff.
Afunanya said the suspect approached Abiogu, from Bayelsa State, that he was a security aide attached to Gambari.
Momoh allegedly claimed that $25,000 would be given to the Chief of Staff, while the remaining would be for “the boys, who would help secure the appointment.”
Momoh and his team subsequently visited Abiogu in his house in Abuja to collect the money.
Afunanya said, “Abiogu suspected they were fraudulent and alerted authorities, leading to a sting operation that was conducted by the service, where Momoh was nabbed.”
The DSS spokesman said Momoh worked briefly as an aide to someone in the Presidential Villa and had some knowledge of the workings of the environment.
The 42-year-old, who said he is married with two children, admitted to the crime.
