By Onozure Dania & Joel Chukwuma
Lagos—ONE Pastor Nsikakabasi Akpan-Jacobs, who was arraigned for allegedly defrauding Mrs Titi Atiku, the wife of former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, of N918 million, has alleged that he was detained for three weeks by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in Abuja on Mrs Atiku’s instructions.

Akpan-Jacobs revealed this yesterday before an Ikeja High Court, while testifying on the second day of the trial-within-trial proceedings to determine the voluntariness of his statements to the anti-graft agency.

The defendant, who was led in evidence by Mr. Amos Ibe, his counsel, said: “I was first arrested by the Lagos office of the EFCC.

“On the days when I honoured their invitation, I gave statements at various times to different operatives namely Mr. Dapo, Mr. Kabir, Mr. Lawal as well as a team of investigators comprising a lady and two men.

“I received an unexpected call from the EFCC on February 5, 2009, which I honoured and when I arrived, I was taken straight to the airport. When I asked what was wrong, they told me that it was based on ‘orders from above’.

“When I arrived in Abuja, I was taken to an underground detention facility. The sureties in my bail by the EFCC were to be two directors in the civil service, who had landed property in Abuja.”

He alleged that he was interrogated by Mr. Pascal, Mr. Oron, and Mr. Baba-Kura, EFCC’s operatives.

According to him, if his written statement was not satisfactory, operatives will shred the document and order him to write a fresh one, containing sentences approved by them.

He said: “All the statements I wrote were signed but not dated. I dated all my statements in one day under the instruction of EFCC. I did not have access to my phones as well as my lawyer, who was within reach.

“I never saw Florence Doregos (Mrs Atiku) at the EFCC office; she never came despite the EFCC operatives telling me that she would come. I want the court to reject the statements I gave to the EFCC.”

Earlier during proceedings, a lawyer, Mr. Ikhide Daniels, testified that the EFCC denied him access to Akpan-Jacobs and Abdulmalik Ibrahim, the second defendant while they were in custody in Abuja.

Counsel to the EFCC, Mr. Babatunde Sonoiki, while cross-examining Daniels, alleged that the lawyer never came to Abuja to see his clients.

Sonoiki also denied that the Abuja office of the anti-graft agency had a detention facility and that the disputed undertaking was not made by Akpan-Jacobs, while he was in EFCC custody in Abuja.