Patience, the wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan,
has reportedly ‘recovered’ her N2bn hotel which was earlier shutdown by the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in June.
The anti-graft agency had in June placed the red inscriptions,
‘EFCC Under Investigation’ all over the hotel which is located near Setraco
Construction Company, off the Mabushi Kado Expressway.
Findings by Punch showed that the EFCC inscriptions had been
erased and patched with grey paint.
One of the workers in the hotel was quoted as saying that,
“Go and ask the EFCC if they had the right to put their sign all over the
building in the first place. If you want more information, go and ask madam.”
A source at the EFCC said it was wrong of Patience to have
erased the EFCC inscription from the building.
He said, “Sometimes when we are investigating some
politically exposed persons, they immediately begin to sell off their buildings
in order to cover their tracks and run away with the cash so that is why we put
EFCC signs on the buildings so that innocent people will not buy those
buildings.
“As it is, she has removed the inscriptions and can quickly
sell it off.”
In his reaction, Mrs. Jonathan’s lawyer, Ifedayo Adedipe
(SAN), said he was not aware of the seizure of the property.
Adedipe said if the hotel in question was indeed seized
through a court order, then the removal of the EFCC inscriptions would be of no
effect.
Adedipe said, “I am not aware of the seizure of property. If
the EFCC seal was removed from the property, let them go and put another one.
In any case, we have sued the EFCC for abuse of her human rights and human
dignity. The matter is pending before the Federal High Court in Abuja and
everything has been included in that suit.
“We are challenging all the seizures because without
prejudice to our case, Mrs. Jonathan was neither a public officer nor a
contractor. So, the idea of harassing her beats my imagination.
“I don’t see the basis for the EFCC’s harassment of that
woman and the case wears a political toga because she was a formidable element
during the campaign.”
Meanwhile, spokesman for the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, said
he did not know much about the seizure of the building and thus could not say
if it had been returned to Patience or not.
He said, “I have spoken to the appropriate people but I was
not able to get any answer on the matter.”
By Ameh Comrade Godwin
