Blood is said to be thicker than water. In Africa where the family is often view as a unit, siblings are expected to stick together and help one another at all times.
But age-long practice among black people does not seem to hold any water in the case of Abidemi Rufai who is presently undergoing trial in the US over a $350,000 fraud case.
According to a report by PREMIUM TIMES, the brother of the troubled Abidemi Rufai has refused to stand surety for him in the $350,000 fraud case against him in the United States.
It will be recalled that Rufai, a suspended aide of Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State, was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) at the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York on May 14.
He was on May 19 granted a $300,000 bail by a New York magistrate’s court, but the Acting U.S. Attorney, Tessa Gorman, on May 24, filed an “emergency motion” at the U.S. Western District Court of Washington, Tacoma, “to stay the order of release.”
Unfortunately, Rufai has remained in detention, despite the magistrate’s order for his release, because his brother proposed as his surety could not post the $300,000 bond.
According to a court filing obtained by PREMIUM TIMES, the proposed surety did not sign the bond, not because of his inability to pay. The surety, whose name was not given in the document, was not just willing to play that role for his brother, the court document showed.
Even when the magistrate, Ramon Reyes, explained to Mr Rufai’s brother that he would not be required to make payment for the bond only if Mr Rufai jumped bail, he still declined.
“Rufai’s brother told the Court he was unwilling to sign the bond. Judge Reyes explained to Rufai’s brother that he would not be required to put up any security for the bond, and would be required to make payment on the bond only if Rufai failed to appear at court proceedings.
“Rufai’s brother stated that he was unwilling to sign the bond even on those conditions. Accordingly, Judge Reyes entered a detention and transfer order,” the U.S. government said in the document.
As a result of Rufai’s brother’s refusal to stand as a surety, the defendant’s lawyer, Michael Barrows, on May 21, presented Nekpen Soyemi, a registered nurse, whose family comes from Nigeria.
She told the court that she would guarantee the $300,000 bond and allow Mr Rufai to stay at her and her husband’s home.
The Acting U.S. Attorney, Ms Gorma, later exposed Ms Soyemi, saying she is a “suspect in an investigation into an email impersonation scheme.”
Her husband, Idris Soyemi, is also said to have been convicted for wire fraud in 2014.
The U.S. government told the court that it is dangerous to release Mr Rufai on bail, claiming the suspect presents an extreme risk of flight and “if he does escape to Nigeria, extradition will be extraordinarily difficult or impossible because of his ties to the Nigerian government.”
On Tuesday, the United States District Judge, Benjamin Settle, granted the government’s motion to stay release of Mr Rufai.
“The release order is stayed, and the defendant shall remain in custody pending this Court’s decision on the government’s motion for review,” a court document obtained by PREMIUM TIMES read.
Abidemi Rufai, a Nigerian politician, was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York while heading to Nigeria on May 14.
He allegedly used the identities of more than 100 Washington residents to steal more than $350,000 in unemployment benefits from the Washington State Employment Security Department (ESD) during the COVID-19 pandemic last year.
