The Lagos State Governor,
Akinwunmi Ambode, last weekend commissioned the Hakeem Dickson road in Lekki,
named after the convicted fugitive boss of the Lagos State Safety Commission.
Mr Ambode was represented at the
official unveiling of the Bisola Durosinmi-Etti/Hakeem Dickson road by the
commissioner for works and infrastructure, Ade Akinsanya.
Others present at the event were
Muslim Folami, the commissioner for local government and community affairs;
Hakeem Muri-Okunola, the head of service; Hakeem Sulaimon, special adviser to
the governor on community and communications, and Ajibade Bade-Adebowale, the
permanent secretary, ministry of energy and mineral resources, among others.
PremiumTimes reports that since
2016, the Lagos State Government had repeatedly ignored requests for comments
as to whether it was aware of Mr Dickson’s criminal history.
Again, on Monday, Kehinde
Bamigbetan, the commissioner for information, and Habib Aruna, Mr Ambode’s
chief press secretary, did not respond to phone calls and text message requests
for comments.
Mr Ambode swore Mr Dickson into
office as the director-general of the Lagos State Safety Commission in June
2017, eight months after he announced his appointment.
Mr Dickson, a former chairman of
Surulere local government, had earlier incurred the angst of the Lagos State
House of Assembly after he immediately resumed office, after the announcement
of his appointment, without first appearing before the lawmakers for screening.
His appointment by the governor
and subsequent confirmation by the House of Assembly occurred despite evidence
that he is a fugitive convicted of fraud in the United States in 1992.
Tunde Braimoh, a spokesperson for
the Lagos lawmakers, told PREMIUM TIMES at the time that they did not receive
any petition or information about Mr Dickson’s criminal past during his
screening.
Mr Dickson, a former internal
auditor at the now-defunct Nigeria Airways, was sworn into office despite
fleeing a 24-month jail term in the U.S. after being convicted for credit card
fraud.
According to Judge Dickinson
Debevoise of a U.S. District Court, Mr Dickson had not served the sentence
handed to him since June 1992.
“For 20 years, Defendant (Mr
Dickson) successfully evaded all United States government efforts to locate and
arrest him,” the judge said.
Convicted for fraud
On June 14, 1991, Mr Dickson,
also a U.S. citizen, was arrested on a complaint of bank and credit card fraud.
Four months later, he pleaded
guilty to Count One of a four-count indictment which charged that from August
29, 1990, to September 10, 1990, he “knowingly and willfully executed and
attempted to execute” a scheme to defraud a federally insured institution in
violation of U.S. laws.
On June 25, 1992, Mr Dickson was
sentenced to a 24-month jail term, to be followed by a term of supervised
release of three years.
He was also ordered to repay
$14,400.
The judge fixed August 3, 1992,
for his voluntary surrender, despite opposition from the U.S. government, the
plaintiff in the suit.
“The government had urged at
sentencing that Defendant be remanded forthwith or at least surrender to the
Bureau of Prisons no later than the following Monday, June 29, 1992,” the judge
said.
“The court noted that while on
bail, Defendant returned on three occasions after being given permission to
leave the country.
“The court also took account of
Defendant’s wish to spend more time with his one-year-old son, who suffered
severe medical problems. Thus the August 3, 1992, surrender date.”
But on August 3, 1992, Mr Dickson
was nowhere to be found in the U.S., forcing the judge to revoke his bail and
issue a warrant for his arrest.
About 20 years later, on January
27, 2012, Mr Dickson, filed a motion seeking to adjust his sentence of 24
months incarceration in the U.S. by claiming that he had already served 17
months on the same sentence in a Lagos prison.
In his motion, Mr Dickson claimed
that a series of events after his sentencing, preceded by violent clashes
between Muslims and Christians in Lagos, forced him to disobey the August 3
surrender date.
“During these clashes, two of
Defendant’s sisters were killed and the family home was burned to the ground,”
the judge quoted Mr Dickson as claiming, in his judgment dated May 12, 2012.
“Following his sentencing
Defendant returned to Lagos to bury his sisters, assess the damage to his
father’s house and to take his mother for treatment.
“When Defendant arrived in Lagos,
he was arrested at the airport and was told that since he was convicted in the
United States he would also serve time in Nigeria. He was retained in custody
until December 10, 1993, a total of 17 months.”
But investigations showed that
the Nigerian Prisons Services does not have any record of Mr Dickson serving a
jail time between 1992 and 1993.
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