EFCC, FIRS, shun Reps’ panel on Patience Jonathan’s allegations

The Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission and the Federal Inland Revenue
Service on Wednesday failed to appear
before a committee of the House of
Representatives investigating the allegations
of harassment made against them by former
President Goodluck Jonathan’s wife,
Patience.

When appearances were called by the
Chairman of the committee, Mr. Uzoma
Nkem-Abonta, nobody appeared for the EFCC
and FIRS.
The committee had earlier wrote the acting
Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, and
top officials of FIRS as well as the National
Drug Law Enforcement Agency to appear
before it to answer questions on the
petition.
However, it was only the NDLEA that sent a
Director, Mr. Femi Oloruntoba, to defend the
actions of the anti-narcotics agency.
Mrs. Jonathan, in a petition laid before the
House on July 6, had complained of
“relentless” harassment by agents of the
Federal Government, particularly the EFCC,
NDLEA and FIRS.
She also alleged that there were
assassination plots against her, besides
attempts by the EFCC to frustrate her efforts
to secure a United Kingdom visa.
Patience stated that the harassment started
soon after her husband left office in May
2015.
Mrs. Jonathan’s petition was laid before the
House by a lawmaker from Rivers State, Mr.
Gogo Bright-Tamuno, on behalf of her
lawyers, Granville Abibo.
The House, which was presided over by the
Speaker, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, admitted the
petition and referred it to the Nkem-Abonta
Committee on Public Petitions for hearing.
She had claimed that on many occasions, the
EFCC’s Chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, ordered
raids to be carried out on property linked to
her or her relations in a bid to ridicule her.
She stated that the raids were in addition to
the freezing of all her bank accounts, non-
governmental organisations and those of
companies owned by her relations in
violation of legal procedures.
Mrs. Jonathan further alleged that raids on
her property were often carried out in the
absence of the occupants of such properties
with “spurious” court orders.
The former President’s wife complained that
she had yet to know why out of all the
“former first ladies” in Nigeria, she was the
only one singled out for harassment by the
agents of government.
The petitioner cited 13 of such instances,
one of which she said was the February
2017 report against her by Magu to the
authorities in the UK to “forestall the
renewal of her visa and other travelling
documents.”
The petition read partly, “Only recently, on
the 8th and 9th June, 2017, the EFCC
commenced another fresh orchestration of
raids on the personal properties of the NGOs
of our client situate at Shehu Musa Yar’Adua
Expressway, Mabuchi by Setraco Junction,
Abuja and ransacked the building.
“They placed seals around it, all without any
lawful court order or summons. The recent
action has agitated the urgent need for this
petition to your office. The harassment
against our client has persisted unabated.”
At the opening of the hearing on
Wednesday, her lawyer, Mr. Sammie Somiari,
told the committee that Patience stood by all
the she wrote in the petition.
“We hereby adopt the petition we sent to
the House. Our concern is the lack of due
process, search warrant and the illegality of
the raids on the properties of our client, her
associates and family members by these
agencies of government,” he told the
committee.
But, the NDLEA defended the raids, saying
that by the provision of Section 44(1) of its
Act, the agency could search any property
without a warrant.
Oloruntoba admitted that a property
belonging to an associate of Patience was
searched on November 30, 2016 after the
NDLEA got information that some illicit drugs
were stored there.
He claimed that the agency did not know
that the property was linked to Mrs.
Jonathan or her associate.
He explained, “Our ID card is our search
warrant. This is because delay can make
suspects to tamper with the evidence. Our
operation is in line with international best
practices. But, we didn’t find anything
incriminating in the building.”
When the committee asked him the nature
of information the NDLEA acted upon, the
director replied that he could only divulge it
in camera.
The committee also asked whether the
agency apologised to the owner of the
property after it could not find any drugs
there, Oloruntoba said the circumstances
did not make the writing of an apology
compulsory.
The House committee later adjourned the
hearing to September 16.
On the absence of the EFCC and FIRS, Nkem-
Abonta said the committee would take a
decision on it.

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