A federal high court sitting in Lagos
has restrained the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, from
dealing with accounts belonging to Patience Jonathan, a former first
lady of Nigeria, affected in the suit before it pending its
determination.
The said accounts are subjects of a suit
brought before the court by lawyers representing Dame Patience
Jonathan, the wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Dame Jonathan is praying the court to restrain the EFCC from undermining her fundamental rights.
It would be recalled that EFCC has been
reported to claim that it had frozen accounts belonging to Dame Patience
Jonathan with amounts ranging from $40 million to $30 million, a claim
Dame Jonathan vehemently denies as false, malicious and mischievous.
According to her lawyers, Jonathan’s funds are less than $10 million and are not linked to fraud or proceeds of corruption.
The Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission has been variously challenged by various groups to publish
its claims in the public domain to substantiate them. But no such
publications have been done in spite of the enormity of the calls.
At the federal high court in Lagos,
Wednesday, October 26, 2016 protesters were seen calling on the federal
government to end what they described as victimisation and witch-hunt
against the former first family. Many believe EFCC’s claims are in fact
not about corruption but about combating the rising profile of Dr.
Goodluck Jonathan. A belief strengthened by the EFCC’s shady approach
and its inability to substantiate its claim by any form of
communication.
Click on any image to enlarge
0 comments:
Post a Comment