Ex-President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria’s former Special Assistant on Domestic Affairs, Waripamo-Owei Dudafa has revealed his ordeal in Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) detention: “After the 13th of May, 2016, they took me back to the cell and they continued taking me out each day so that I could go through agony.”

“In the cell, I was isolated. I was not treated like any other detainee. All other detainees had access to their phones and food but me. My family members were stopped from bringing food to me and I accused the EFCC of planning to poison me. They wanted to break me down, to make me implicate some people. They asked me questions about former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan; they said I was not their targets and made all sorts of overtures but I said over my dead body.”

“The ailment I have today, a spinal cord dislocation, I want to state that it was within that period of torture and agony that my spinal cord got dislocated for sitting all through from morning till night and no one would talk to you, it was excruciating. The EFCC also rejected the offer by my family to take me out for treatment and foot the bill. No fewer than 30 of my friends and family members were arrested because of me. They have frozen all my bank accounts, that of my wife and my children and I could not pay the tuition of my child studying in the US, while I’m still in serious  daily pain due to my dislocated spinal cord.”

“After being detained for many weeks I was taken before the EFCC’s Deputy Director of Operations, Mr. Iliyasu Kwarbai, who threatened and then made overtures to me that I would be released if I could cooperate. Eventually I had no objection to what he said, because I needed my freedom. I was dying at that time; my son was stranded at the university; my wife and children were hungry, everything became a yardstick to my freedom.”

“I want to conclude that it will be unfair to use these statements against me. These statements that they themselves orchestrated and teleguided is what they want to use against me in a court of law? It was bad. Statements that were made under such dehumanising, agonising conditions are what they want to use against me in the temple of justice.”