THREE persons who allegedly tried defrauding Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State have been apprehended by the Makurdi office of the Directorate of State Security.
The suspects were accused of trying to defraud the governor of $3 million, about N500 million.
According to Mr. Rasheed Adediran, the state director of the DSS who paraded the suspects in his office on Friday, the leader of the trio, Mark Ugbaa, who is a member of staff of the College of Technology, Pankshing, Plateau State, and three others, allegedly disguised as staff of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Adediran further explained that two other members of the syndicate, Nuhu Bawa and Bulus Agutom, later identified as a mobile police officer based in Abuja, allegedly visited the government house in Makurdi, claiming to see the governor on an “unresolved issue” with the anti-graft commission with the request of three million dollars to settle the issue.
He noted that the department is on the lookout for the fourth person who he said is at large, stressing that Bawa and Bulus were recruited to the business by the runaway man.
According to Adediran, “two gentlemen, Nuhu and Bulus, were, on February 21, arrested at the government house where they had identified themselves as staff of EFCC. Their movement gave them out as they were later arrested during an investigation.
The SSS director said that further investigation was still ongoing as he pledged effort by the department to apprehend the fourth person who is now at large.
Mark, who had earlier declined comments from newsmen, denied being a fraudster but said that he met with the governor and made a proposal to him as a consultant on conflict resolution.