SAN FRANCISCO, October 12, (THEWILL) – The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Wednesday vowed that if its investigation uncovers evidence of corruption against the wife of former president Goodluck Jonathan, Patience, she would not be left off the hook.
The agency’s Deputy Director in charge of Operations, Mr. Iliyasu Kwarbai, stated this after receiving a petition against Patience and the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, from a group of protesters, who marched to the EFCC office in Ikoyi, Lagos.
This is coming barely a day after the Zonal Head of EFCC’s South-south office, Mr Ishaq Salihu, disclosed that it is investigating some former governors and politicians in the South-South region, explaining that the code name for the category of politicians being quietly investigated was PEP, meaning Political Exposed Personalities.
Stating that over five hundred million naira had been recovered from the PEP, Salihu revealed that the commission had this year alone made a total of one billion, sixty million , two hundred and fifteen thousand , two hundred and sixty eight naira, sixty kobo (N100, 215,268.60) , adding that it also secured 26 convictions.
Meanwhile, the protesters who gathered under the auspices of Human Rights Defenders and Advocacy Centre, HRDAC, submitted a petition entitled, ‘Demand for arrest, prosecution of Patience Jonathan, probe of APC campaign fund and no more sacred cow in the anti-corruption crusade’.
In the said petitioned signed by its President, Queen Ameh, and Chairman of its Board of Trustees, Innocent Agbo, HRDAC accused the EFCC of being selective in its anti-graft war, wondering why Patience was still walking freely in spite of the evidence, which they said the EFCC had against her.
The group asked the anti-graft agency to change its slogan from ‘Nobody is above the law’, since it had found it difficult to go after the likes of Patience, and ex-Presidents, including Ibrahim Babangida, Abdusalam Abubakar, Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan.
The protesters also challenged the EFCC to probe the source of the election campaign fund of the ruling APC in the 2015 election, while also demanding a probe of the party’s national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi.
“You have found evidence incriminating Patience Jonathan but we are surprised that Patience Jonathan is still allowed to be walking freely, and even had the audacity to take the EFCC to court to release same money to her,” Agbo told the EFCC.
Story by Ugonnabo Ngwu
