Mrs.
Patience Jonathan, wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan, has accused the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission of sending assassins after her.
Mrs.
Jonathan said she had survived two of such attempts but urged the House of
Representatives to quickly intervene before the EFCC would succeed in the
alleged plot to eliminate her.
In a letter
written by her lawyers, Granville Abibo (SAN) & Co, Mrs. Jonathan said,
“There have been assassination attempts, at least twice, between February and
April, 2017, against our client ostensibly by the operatives of the EFCC along
the Yenagoa-Mbaima Road, Bayelsa State, in furtherance of its unlawful actions
against the former first family.”
Patience
also accused the anti-graft agency of bugging her telephone lines, adding that
agents of the commission had been sending threatening text messages to her.
The former
President’s wife said, “The EFCC and its agents have repeatedly bugged the
personal telephones of our client and her relations through its many operatives
and has inundated her with numerous threatening calls and text messages.”
She said
apart from the EFCC, other agencies of the government, like the Federal Inland
Revenue Service had intimidated her.
Patience
alleged that officials of the FIRS stormed her hotel in Bayelsa State two
months ago and vandalised its properties.
Mrs.
Jonathan added, “On May 3, 2017, officials of the FIRS, in a convoy of about 20
trucks and over 70 personnel, raided our client’s NGO – Aridolf Jo Resort
Wellness and Spa Limited – situated at Kpansia Expressway, Bayelsa State, and
orchestrated a massive destruction of personal properties belonging to our
client without any lawful court order or search warrant and caused mayhem there
under the guise of trying to collect unpaid taxes without following any due
process provided by law to do so.”
She stated
that apart from her bank accounts, the commission had frozen those of her
relatives and her NGOs which she said were only carrying out charity work for
the benefit of Nigerians.
Patience
said the anti-graft agency had also seized properties belonging to her NGOs.
The
spokesman for the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, refused to react to the
allegations levelled against the commission by Mrs. Jonathan when he was
contacted on the telephone on Monday.
Meanwhile,
the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, on Monday, said the allegation by
Mrs. Jonathan that the agency was harassing her was misleading and spurious.
The NDLEA
also stated that the former President’s wife’s allegation was an attempt to
take issue with the agency as it had no case against her.
Mrs.
Jonathan had petitioned the House of Representatives through her lawyer,
Granville Abibo, alleging that she was being subjected to continuous harassment
by the EFCC and the NDLEA.
But the
anti-narcotic agency, in a statement on Monday by its Head, Public Affairs,
Mitchell Ofoyeju, said any individual, found culpable of drug trafficking and
other related offences, would be duly prosecuted by the agency irrespective of
his or her status.
Ofoyeju
said, “Mrs. Jonathan’s allegation is spurious and misleading. NDLEA has no case
against the former First Lady. It is rather surprising that the agency was
mentioned in her petition when she is not being investigated.
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