Can Abidemi Rufai Live with the Blot on His Escutcheon?

Those who knew Abidemi Rufai, a former aide of Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State, would tell you that the man was the true definition of a man-about-town. At a time, the Ogun State-born aptly fitted the description of King of Groove, if there was a title like that.

Apart from his academic qualifications, his other credentials in the social circle, so to say, were that he drove posh cars, wore expensive designer watches and was a VIP card-carrying member of many A-list nightclubs on Lagos Island and other parts of the country. In fact, Society Watch gathered that club owners could afford to shut any other person out of their clubs as long as the man was around.

A top-flight socialite and quite popular among musicians, Rufai has houses in choice areas in Ijebu-Ode as well as Lekki.  He was also well-connected on account of his relationship with Governor Abiodun and other power brokers in Ogun and neighbouring states.

However, his influence came to a sudden halt in 2021 when the man known as Elele Ruffy by fans and admirers poked the law in the eyes in the faraway United States.

As they say, ‘greed is a powerful motivator,’ Rufai was not content with the wealth he had acquired. He got pushed by greed and found himself in an unenviable situation. His fans were shocked beyond words when news broke back then that the owner of Ecobet, a popular sports betting company, had been arrested at the John F. Kennedy Airport in New York on his way out of the US.

The acting U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman accused him of using an alias, Sandy Tang, to steal over $350,000 in unemployment benefits from the Washington State Employment Security Department. He was jailed for his numerous offences.

Rufai was released from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons’ custody in Fort Dix, New Jersey, on November 15, 2024. The convicted felon, as gathered, would now ready himself for deportation from the U.S. as stipulated in his guilty plea. His Nigerian passport was returned to him on October 21, 2024, after he filed a motion to reduce his sentencing.

But the question many are asking is how the former big boy will live with the blot on his escutcheon.