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Court orders EFCC to unfreeze Patience Jonathan’s $5.9m (Updated)

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Mrs Jonathan cries to Dogara, says Police, NDLEA have joined EFCC to witch-hunt me, my family

Wife of Former President Goodluck Jonathan, Patience has floored the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission at the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos.

The court on Thursday ordered the anti-graft agency to unfreeze her accounts containing about $5.9 million.

A Federal high court also sitting in Lagos had late last year granted the EFCC’s order to freeze multiple accounts belonging to the former first lady, on the suspicion that the funds in them were proceeds of crime.

This was after EFCC prosecutor Rotimi Oyedepo had filed an affidavit in support of the ex-parte originating summons sworn to by an investigating officer of the agency, Abdullahi Tukur, before the court.

Mrs. Jonathan had approached the court for enforcement of what she said was an abuse of her rights, even as she claimed that the monies were gifts to her.

Her counsel, Adedayo Adedipe, had prayed the court to unfreeze the account, arguing that Mrs Jonathan was never a party in the suit leading to the order made by the court.

Read also: INEC staff who got N30m of Diezani’s alleged N23b bribe pleads guilty

Adedipe further argued that the order was an abuse of court process because the court lacked the jurisdiction to make an order against a party which is not a party in a suit filed before the court.

The EFCC meanwhile, did not file any response to the application filed to discharge the order.

Therefore, following the application by Adedipe, trial Justice Mojisola Olatoregun upheld the submission of the former First Lady’s counsel and discharged the order freezing the account.

Sequel to an application by EFCC last year, the court had ordered that the account containing $5,8million domiciled with Skye bank be frozen on the claim that it was proceeds of crime.

Affected along Mrs Jonathan’s account by the same order were accounts of five companies holding N7.4billion and the account of Esther Oba holding $429,381.87.

They were said to be banked in six different commercial banks.

On Monday, a Federal High Court in Lagos similarly ordered the unfreezing of the account of a lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN) in the case between him and the EFCC over a N75 million legal fee Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose paid his law firm.

 

 

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