The Minister of Information has disclosed that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was not probing Nigeria's former first lady, Patience Jonathan.
Lai Mohammed
Speaking with journalists in Kwara State while reacting to insinuations that Patience Jonathan was being persecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the minister of information, Lai Mohammed, on Tuesday said the anti-graft agency was not probing the former first lady.
Dame Patience Jonathan recently approached the Lagos federal high court claiming ownership of $34.1m after the anti-corruption agency had given a freezing order for the sum to be seized.
The outspoken information minister explained that it was only after she took ownership of the aforementioned sum that another $5 million was discovered.
“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,” Mohammed said.