Wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Patience, has complained that the seizure of her $5.7 million and N2.4 billion by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was against her fundamental human rights since she did not steal the money and had never stolen money.She insisted that the seized monies were cash gifts which she received when her husband was in office and therefore begged the Federal High Court in Lagos to order the release of such monies to her.
Speaking through her lawyer, Chief Ifedayo Adedipe (SAN), Patience Jonathan asked Justice Mojisola Olatoregun to dismiss the application by the EFCC, praying that the money be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.
She argued that it was wrong for the EFCC to tag the money as proceeds of crime, when she had committed no crime and when nobody complained that their money was missing.
The lawyer contended that Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud, which EFCC relied upon to seize Patience’s funds, was only applicable to fraudsters.
“It is not the law that if the EFCC finds money in an account and it doesn’t like the owner’s face, it comes to court and says ‘forfeit it’.
“The government is at liberty to apply for forfeiture but the offence must be stated.
“The first respondent is a wife to a former deputy governor, governor, Vice President, and President.
“Even the current occupier of the office of the First Lady wants to build a university.
“In this country, First Ladies enjoy a lot of goodwill. She (Patience) stated that governors gave her money. Nobody wrote that she stole their money.”
The lawyer stressed that there was no justification for the money to be forfeited to the Federal Government, as the EFCC had not proved that Patience stole money from the government or any individual.
