The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Mrs Patience Jonathan

  • Jonathan’s wife loses another N2.4bn to FG

    Exactly eight days after the Supreme Court upheld Federal Government’s interim seizure of the $8.4 million believed to be owned by ex-First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, the apex court has again agreed to a similar forfeiture of another N2.4bn linked with Mrs. Jonathan.

    While men of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said the $8.4 million were discovered in some accounts linked to the ex-First Lady, the N2,421,953,522.00 was said to be held in bank accounts owned by Lawari Furniture and Bath Limited, an entity in which Mrs. Jonathan allegedly has interest.

    In a judgment yesterday, a five-man panel of the Supreme Court rejected the appeal by Lawari Furniture on the grounds that it was without merit. The appeal was filed and argued for the appellant by Mike Ozekhome (SAN).

    In the lead judgment written by Justice Amiru Sanusi but read by Justice Sidi Bage, the court upheld the order of interim forfeiture made by a High Court in Lagos on April 26, 2017, which was affirmed by the Court of Appeal, Lagos in a judgment given on January 12, 2018.

    The court rejected the argument by the appellant who faulted the interim order of forfeiture obtained by the EFCC via an ex-parte motion, and prayed that it be set  aside.

    It also rejected the appellant’s prayer to void Section 17 of the Advanced Fee Fraud Act and other Fraud related offences Act, on which the High Court relied in issuing the order of interim forfeiture.

    The court, in the lead judgment, noted that it rarely interferes in the concurrent findings of the two lower courts, except where there are exceptional circumstances and the findings perverse.

    It noted that, in the instant case, no such exceptional circumstances existed.

    In his supporting judgment, a member of the panel, Justice Ejembi Eko, observed that the substance of this appeal was similar to the one decided by the court on March 8 this year (relating to the interim forfeiture of $8.4m).

    Justice Eko said both appeals ought not to be split and assigned to different panels to avoid the risk of issuing conflicting judgments.

    He found nothing wrong with the provision of Section 17 of the Money Laundering Act, which he noted was the same as the provision in Section 29 of EFCC Act.

    Other members of the panel, Justices Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, Mary Peter Odili and Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, agreed with the lead judgment.

  • Patience Jonathan’s $15.591m case for Jan 19

    Patience Jonathan’s $15.591m case for Jan 19

    The Federal High Court in Lagos Monday adjourned hearing of Mrs. Patience Jonathan’s suit seeking to unfreeze her accounts till January 19

    The accounts are said to have $15.5million in them.

    Justice Mohammed Idris adjourned to enable the former first lady’s lawyers to respond to an objection by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    Mrs Jonathan is praying the court to discharge a no debit order placed on the accounts.

    The judge on May 8 held that Mrs. Jonathan and other parties must give oral evidence on the money’s ownership.

    According to him, all the defendants’ counter-affidavits contain disputed facts that could not be decided without oral evidence.

    He directed them to file pleadings, which they did.

    “In the circumstances, the court hereby orders that the parties herein file pleadings in accordance with the Federal High Court Civil Procedure Rules 2009 and trial shall then proceed accordingly,” Justice Idris held.

    The EFCC had urged the court not to unfreeze the accounts because the money was suspected to be “proceed of crime”.

    Skye Bank Plc, Jonathan’s former aide Waripamo-Owei Dudafa, Pluto Property and Investment Company Ltd, Seagate Property Development and Investment Company Ltd, Trans Ocean Property and Investment Company Ltd and Avalon Global Property Development Ltd are the other respondents.

    The companies, through their representatives, had pleaded guilty to laundering the money last September 15 when they were arraigned before Justice Babs Kuewumi of the same court.

    They were charged along with Dudafa, Briggs and a banker, Adedamola Bolodeoku, for allegedly laundering the money.

    Unlike the companies, Dudafa, Briggs and Bolodeoku pleaded not guilty to the 17-count charge.

    In a supporting affidavit to her application, Mrs Jonathan’s aide, Sammie Somiari, said Dudafa helped the former first lady to open the accounts around March 2010.

    The deponent claimed Mrs. Jonathan was the sole signatory to the accounts and that she had no relationship with the companies.

  • Will Patience Jonathan roll out the drums as she clocks 60?

    Will Patience Jonathan roll out the drums as she clocks 60?

    The 60th birthday of Mrs Patience Jonathan, wife of former Nigerian president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, is barely four weeks away. In the days she held sway as the First Lady, the halls of the social and political elites would by now be astir with preparations like effervescent bees buzzing around a hive. Her numerous friends would have literally taken over the social and traditional media with posters and anticipatory messages, while some swanky spots in Abuja would have been booked for a huge birthday shindig.

    The reality now is that Patience is no more the First Lady, and the group that used to hang around her like faithful dogs eager to do their master’s bidding has been dispersed by the gale of change that also blew her husband out of  Aso Rock Villa. As her birthday approaches, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is hot on her heels over allegations of financial impropriety, thus provoking genuine curiosity as to what the colourful former first lady would do?

    Will she roll out the drums for a high octane birthday bash or will she borrow a leaf from her quiescent husband and make do with a low-key celebration? Only October 25 will tell.

  • Court adjourns Patience Jonathan’s $15.591m case for hearing

    Court adjourns Patience Jonathan’s $15.591m case for hearing

    The Federal High Court in Lagos Thursday adjourned hearing of Mrs Patience Jonathan’s suit seeking to unfreeze her accounts till November 2.

    The accounts are said to have $15.591million in them.

    Justice Mohammed Idris had on May 8 held that Mrs Jonathan and other parties must give oral evidence on the money’s ownership.

    According to him, all the defendants’ counter-affidavits contain disputed facts that could not be decided without oral evidence.

    “In my view, the facts are contentious, and oral evidence needs to be led by the parties herein. In the light of the above facts, this case is generally not suitable for an originating summons procedure.

    “In the circumstances, the court hereby orders that the parties herein file pleadings in accordance with the Federal High Court Civil Procedure Rules 2009 and trial shall then proceed accordingly,” Justice Idris held.

    The EFCC had urged the court not to unfreeze the accounts because the money was suspected to be “proceed of crime”.

    Skye Bank Plc, Jonathan’s former aide Waripamo-Owei Dudafa, Pluto Property and Investment Company Ltd, Seagate Property Development and Investment Company Ltd, Trans Ocean Property and Investment Company Ltd and Avalon Global Property Development Ltd are the other respondents.

    The companies, through their representatives, had pleaded guilty to laundering the money last September 15 when they were arraigned before Justice Babs Kuewumi of the same court.

    They were charged along with Dudafa, Briggs and a banker, Adedamola Bolodeoku, for allegedly laundering the money.

    Unlike the companies, Dudafa, Briggs and Bolodeoku pleaded not guilty to the 17-count charge.

    In a supporting affidavit to her application, Mrs Jonathan’s aide, Sammie Somiari, said Dudafa helped the former first lady to open the accounts around March 2010.

    The deponent claimed Mrs Jonathan was the sole signatory to the accounts and that she had no relationship with the companies.

  • Probe invasion of Jonathan’s hotel, youths urge FIRS

    Probe invasion of Jonathan’s hotel, youths urge FIRS

    Youths from Niger Delta region, Monday, appealed to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to investigate alleged invasion of a hotel belonging to former First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, by its officials.

    Officials of FIRS besieged the Aridolf Resort and Spars along Isaac Boroh Expressway, Bayelsa State, on May 3 and attempted to seal off the place following alleged N10million unpaid tax.

    Youths from the hotel including workers reportedly intervened and stopped them from closing the hotel.

    But youths under the auspices of the Niger Delta Youths Coalition for Peace and Progress (NDYCPP) said a thorough investigation must be carried out to determine the real motive of the officials.

    The Acting Chairman, NDYCPP, Chief Henry Nabena, lamented that the officials disrupted their meeting and later claimed that they were attacked by the militants.

    Nabena, who spoke in Yenagoa, said the report that FIRS officials were attacked by militants was a smear campaign against members of NDYCPP and proprietors of the hotel.

    He said that describing members of the youth group as militants was falsehood against the integrity of a group of non-violent youths working for advancement of peace in the Niger Delta.

    He said: “The FIIRS officials came with men in police uniforms without name tags on their uniforms and were well armed.

    “Also among them were young men with chains and padlocks in their hands, making the operation highly suspicious as one with extortionist intentions.

    “Interestingly, it was about that time the leadership of Niger Delta Youth Coalition for Peace and Progress was holding a very strategic peace and security meeting at the Hotel’s Conference Hall.

    “The officials of FIRS burst into the meeting hall and disrupted it, embarrassing members of the Coalition with their unruly and unethical conduct”.

    He demanded unreserved apology from FIRS for reports alleging that some 50 militants attacked its officials at the hotel.

    “The publication orchestrated by the FIRS is totally untrue, baseless, malicious, provocative, vexatious, sensational and intended to malign the person of the former first family

    “The leadership of FIRS should caution their personnel on the essence of ethical and civil conduct in carrying out their official and legitimate duties.

    “We urge the management of FIRS to retrain their line-managers towards carrying out their legitimate functions with best practices, professionalism and ethical compliance .

    “They should shun the temptation of being cajoled or used by disgruntled politicians to witch-haunt their perceived political rivals,” he said.

    He advised that as a central revenue collector for the government, FIRS should discharge its duties with manifest transparency and accountability at all times.

    He said that the youth group wanted an investigation and would not allow the falsehood to stand even if it involved seeking redress in the courts.

    But an official of FIIRS, who spoke in confidence, said there was an ongoing nationwide enforcement of compliance.

    He said: “There is need to first ascertain if the raid was by FIIRS officials in the first place because there is Internal Revenue service in every state, if that is cleared then they can lodge a complaint as FIIRS is structured to handle complains.”

     

  • Lawyer urges Nigerians to stop celebrating corruption

    Lawyer urges Nigerians to stop celebrating corruption

    A Legal Practitioner, Mr Stanley Dien has called on Nigerians to stop celebrating each time the Federal Government loses its case against alleged corrupt individuals in court.

    Dien made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja against the backdrop of corruption cases the Federal Government has been losing in courts.

    According to him, “I shudder at the rate at which some Nigerians celebrate people that were alleged to have made away with the country’s money.”

    He called on the citizenry to have a sober reflection on the way they celebrate allegedly corrupt people whenever they won their cases in court.

    He said that such could send the wrong signal to the international community.

    The legal practitioner said that though the decision of the court had been very worrisome, especially in the fight against corruption by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, the law must however be allowed to take its course.

    Dien said that there was no point to celebrate such losses, adding that since Nigeria operates a democratic government, the rule of law must be allowed to prevail.

    He said that a situation where the court would keep relying on technicalities to rule on a case would not augur well in the fight against corruption.

    He said that the judge handling the case involving Justice Adeniyi Ademola should have gone into a full trial, adding that the justice should have been allowed to state how he came about the money

    The legal practitioner said that the judge should have allowed the case to go on its merit and people should not be allowed to celebrate it.

    The News Agency of Nigeria, (NAN) recalls that an FCT High Court in Abuja had on April 5, dismissed the 18-count criminal charges brought by the Federal Government against Ademola of the Federal High Court and his wife.

    Also, the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos on April 3 ordered the unfreezing of the account of Lagos lawyer, Mike Ozekhome (SAN), with a sum of N75million professional fee paid to him by Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State.

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had alleged that the money was proceeds of corruption.

    The initial forfeiture of the sum of 900,000 dollars found in an account of former First Lady, Mrs Patience Jonathan was similarly reversed on the order of another court.

    Former Minister of Niger Delta, Elder Godsday Orubebe was also discharged and acquitted on offence bothering on corruption after the Attorney General for the Federation, Mr Abubakar Malami told ICPC that the case filed against Orubebe did not exist.