DSS arrests ex-Aso Villa worker for alleged $50,000 scam

The Department of State Services has arrested one Mohammed Momoh, for posing as an aide to the Chief of Staff to the President, Ibrahim Gambari, to defraud one Benson Agiobu of $50, 000.

Momoh, a former worker at the Presidential Villa, requested the money to secure an appointment for Agiobu as the Special Adviser to the President on Oil and Gas.

The DSS Public Relations Officer, Peter Afunanya, who paraded the indigene of Kogi State, in Abuja on Tuesday, said investigations revealed that Momoh and his group never acted on behalf of or for the Chief of Staff.

Afunanya said the suspect had approached Agiobu, from Bayelsa State, telling him he was a security aide attached to Gambari.

Momoh had claimed that $25, 000 would be given to the Chief of Staff while the remaining would be for “the boys who would help secure the appointment.”

Momoh and his team subsequently visited Abiogu in his house in Abuja to collect the money.

Afunanya said, ” Abiogu suspected they were fraudulent and alerted authorities leading to a sting operation that was conducted by the service, where Momoh was nabbed.”

The DSS spokesman said Momoh had worked briefly some time ago as an aide to someone in the Presidential Villa and had some knowledge of the workings of the environment.

He said Momoh would face the full weight of the law.

The 42-year-old, who said he is married with two children, admitted to the crime.