The wife of the former president of Nigeria Mrs. Patience Jonathan has disclosed why $15million was found in her bank account she further tell the agency that the money found was used to settle medical bills when she was outside the country. She therefore, urged the Economic and Financial Crimes commission and Skye Bank to lift the restriction on the accounts.
Patience said this in a letter with reference number GA/
Abibo/00226/2016, written by her lawyers, Granville Abibo
(SAN) and Co, which was addressed to the Acting Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu.
The PUNCH had reported that the four accounts belonged to
the following companies: Pluto Property
and Investment Company Limited, Seagate Property
Development and Investment Company Limited, Trans Ocean
Property and Investment Company Limited and Globus
Integrated Service Limited.
A houseboy, a driver and other domestic workers of a former
Special Adviser on Domestic Affairs to Jonathan,
Waripamowei Dudafa, were named as directors, but
Patience’s $15m was lodged in the accounts and she was
given a platinum card and exclusive access to the accounts.
The letter read in part,
“It is noteworthy to emphasise that the said accounts,
which were in US dollar denomination, were card-
based accounts and our client is the sole signatory to
these accounts.
“However, our client has been operating the said
accounts using the cards for her medical bill
payments and purchases for her private purposes
without any let or hindrance.
“Our client was therefore surprised when the said
cards stop functioning on July 7, 2016, or thereabout.
Our client immediately, thereupon, contacted Skye
Bank Plc through our solicitors.
‘‘It was only then that the bank officials informed our
client that the said accounts were placed on a ‘No
Debit Order’ following investigations and instruction
from your commission and this is without notice to
our client by either the bank or the commission.
“It is in the light of the foregoing that we urge you to
use your good offices to vacate the ‘No Debit/
Freezing Order’ placed on the said accounts.”
Patience, who described herself as a law-abiding citizen, said
despite all the explanations she offered to the Lagos Zonal
Office of the EFCC, the detectives in charge refused to heed
her request.
She, therefore, urged Magu to intervene immediately.
She added,
“Despite the foregoing, our client, who is a law-
abiding citizen, has watched with surprise how efforts
are being made surreptitiously to indirectly harass or
harangue her and short-change her of her personal
funds in breach of her fundamental human rights.
“We urge you sir, to kindly intervene to stop the
untoward and wrongful actions of your officials to
embarrass, inconvenience and short-change our
client.”
However, a detective in the EFCC said,
“We got a relevant court order to freeze those
accounts and we have evidence which we will present
in court on Friday.
“We did not know that the accounts belonged to
Patience Jonathan at the time we froze them. The
accounts do not bear her name neither do they carry
her BVN (Bank Verification Number). So, how can she
accuse us of harassment?
“She has a separate account in Skye Bank with the
title ‘Patience Jonathan’, which has a balance of $5m.
If she claims she needs money for medical treatment,
then the $5m should be alright.”
In a thanksgiving service held at the State House chapel in
Abuja on February 18, 2013, Patience had said she underwent
seven surgical operations within one month in Germany,
adding that the doctors had given up hope on her survival.
She had stated,
“I remember when Chief Obasanjo was the President
of the country, I was close to his late wife, Stella. We
worshiped together in this chapel. It was a painful
moment for me that time when she (Stella) died and
her corpse was brought here.
“That was how my corpse would have been brought
here.
‘‘It was not an easy experience for me. I actually died,
I passed out for more than a week. My intestine and
tummy were opened.
“I am not Lazarus but my experience was similar to
his. My doctors said all hope was lost.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai
Mohammed, has said the Federal Government, under
President Muhammadu Buhari, is not persecuting Jonathan
and his wife, Patience.
Speaking in an interview with journalists in Oro, Kwara State,
on Tuesday, Mohammed said it would be wrong to submit
that the Federal Government was probing Jonathan or
Patience.
He said,
“If you look at the history of Mrs. Patience Jonathan’s
issue, I think she was the one that came out to claim
that the money found in the accounts of one of the
aides to the former President, her husband, belonged
to her.
“It was not the EFCC that claimed so. She claimed
that the money that the guy was being prosecuted for
belonged to her. It was only then they later found an
extra $5m in another account.
“It is not as if anybody has gone out to probe Mrs.
Jonathan directly or indirectly. Rather Mrs. Jonathan
was the one that said ‘that money for which you are
accusing Mr. X actually belongs to me. So, you cannot
start talking of prosecution or persecution.”
The minister said the Federal Government was concerned
about the current national economic recession and had
initiated measures to address it.
He stated that the current campaign of the Federal
Government, ‘‘Change begins with me,’’ was not only for the
people but also for the leaders.
Mohammed also said it was incorrect to accuse Buhari’s
government of being partisan, selective and vindictive in its
anti-corruption war.
He said Buhari would also not spare any APC member
accused or guilty of corruption.
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