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| Patience Jonathan |
The Niger Delta Peoples Professional Volunteer Force (NDPPVF), a group
which says its members are workers in the oil and gas industry, has threatened
to bomb the headquarters of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)
if the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arrests Patience
Jonathan.
Accusing the anti-graft agency of witch-hunting the former first lady,
the group advised EFCC to lift the No Debit Order imposed on her Skye Bank
accounts.
The accounts contained more than $15 million, but Jonathan’s wife has
since explained that the money was meant for her medical bills.
Last week, the EFCC filed money laundering charges against Waripamowei
Dudafa, Jonathan’s special adviser on domestic affairs, whom the former first
lady directed to open the accounts Dudafa, Amajuoyi Briggs, a lawyer; and Damola
Bolodeoku, a Skye Bank official.
On Tuesday, Ibrahim Magu, chairman of the EFCC, also told reporters
that Jonathan’s wife was under investigation.
But in a statement by Parkinson George-Amabo, spokesman of NDPPVF, the
group warned Magu that investigating Patience could result into “bad blood,
embarrassment and possible unrest in the Niger Delta”.
The group said it is not in support of corruption, but against the
manner in which the agency is investigating Patience who has had an “impressive
and fortuitous pedigree”.
“As a matter of fact, the EFCC has launched a criminal investigation of
Mrs. Jonathan and in the process, frozen her bank accounts domiciled with a
Nigerian commercial bank without affording her opportunity to state her own
side of the matter,” the statement read.
“Nobody is above the law. The NDPPVF does not support or condone
corruption. If Mrs. Jonathan was found to be corrupt, we shall not hesitate to
call for her prosecution.
“We, however, have a grouse with the modus operandi of Mrs. Jonathan’s
investigation, given her status as the wife of a former deputy governor, former
governor, former vice-president, former acting president and finally, former
president. She is perhaps, the only Nigerian woman – dead or alive – with such
an impressive and fortuitous pedigree; which accounts for why the EFCC needs to
thread with caution.
“Recently, there have been calls on the attorney-general of the
federation as well as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to
arrest and prosecute the former First Lady for alleged money laundering.
“We shall simultaneously bomb the 4 wings of the NNPC Towers the day it
is announced that MRS. PATIENCE GOODLUCK JONATHAN has been arrested by the
EFCC.”
The group added that before her husband emerged as vice-president in
2007, the EFCC investigated Mrs. Jonathan and cleared of any wrongdoing”.
TheCable
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