Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State has suspended one of his aides , Abidemi Rufai, arrested in Washington, over an alleged involvement in stealing of $650m unemployment fund.
Rufai, was arrested last Friday by Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, at JF Kennedy International Airport while allegedly attempting to leave the country.
Rufai was the Deputy Director for Dapo Abiodun Campaign Organizarion during the governorship election in the State.
He was accused of using stealing more than 100 Washington residents data to steal $650m in unemployment benefit from Washington state Employment Security Department, ESD, during the COVID-19 pandemic last years.
Rufai, 42, who is due for prosecution with detention hearing today in Federal Court in Tecoma, was accused of using an alias, Sandy Tang, is also suspected to have defrauded 10 other states in the United States of employment benefits.
He was also accused of bypassing security system using a feature of Google’s free mail service, using a single gmail account to file 102 claims for pandemic related benefit from the ESD.
Abiodun, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Kunle Somorin, ordered the immediate suspension of Rufai.
He said:”The Ogun State governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, has received the very disturbing news of the arrest of one of his political appointees, Mr Abidemi Rufai, in New York over alleged unemployment benefits fraud in the United States.
“In view of the gravity of these allegations, the Governor has ordered the immediate suspension of the accused appointee…will not condone any act bordering on criminality by anyone.”
