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Former First Lady, Patience Jonathan pleads with EFCC over frozen $15million, says it’s for medical bills

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Dame Patience Jonathan, the wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan, said she was using her $15m, which was frozen in four companies’ accounts, to settle medical bills while she was out of the country.

She, therefore, urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and Skye Bank to lift the restriction on the accounts.

Patience said this in a letter with reference number GA/Abibo/00226/2016, written by her lawyers, Granville Abibo (SAN) and Co, which was addressed to the Acting Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu.

It was earlier  reported that the four accounts belonged to the following companies: Pluto Property and Investment Company Limited, Seagate Property Development and Investment Company Limited, Trans Ocean Property and Investment Company Limited and Globus Integrated Service Limited.

A houseboy, a driver and other domestic workers of a former Special Adviser on Domestic Affairs to Jonathan, Waripamowei Dudafa, were named as directors, but Patience’s $15m was lodged in the accounts and she was given a platinum card and exclusive access to the accounts.

The letter read in part, “It is noteworthy to emphasise that the said accounts, which were in US dollar denomination, were card-based accounts and our client is the sole signatory to these accounts.

“However, our client has been operating the said accounts using the cards for her medical bill payments and purchases for her private purposes without any let or hindrance.

“Our client was therefore surprised when the said cards stop functioning on July 7, 2016, or thereabout. Our client immediately, thereupon, contacted Skye Bank Plc through our solicitors.

‘‘It was only then that the bank officials informed our client that the said accounts were placed on a ‘No Debit Order’ following investigations and instruction from your commission and this is without notice to our client by either the bank or the commission.

“It is in the light of the foregoing that we urge you to use your good offices to vacate the ‘No Debit/Freezing Order’ placed on the said accounts.”

Patience, who described herself as a law-abiding citizen, said despite all the explanations she offered to the Lagos Zonal Office of the EFCC, the detectives in charge refused to heed her request.

She, therefore, urged Magu to intervene immediately.

She added, “Despite the foregoing, our client, who is a law-abiding citizen, has watched with surprise how efforts are being made surreptitiously to indirectly harass or harangue her and short-change her of her personal funds in breach of her fundamental human rights.

“We urge you sir, to kindly intervene to stop the untoward and wrongful actions of your officials to embarrass, inconvenience and short-change our client.”

However, a detective in the EFCC said, “We got a relevant court order to freeze those accounts and we have evidence which we will present in court on Friday.

“We did not know that the accounts belonged to Patience Jonathan at the time we froze them. The accounts do not bear her name neither do they carry her BVN (Bank Verification Number). So, how can she accuse us of harassment?

“She has a separate account in Skye Bank with the title ‘Patience Jonathan’, which has a balance of $5m. If she claims she needs money for medical treatment, then the $5m should be alright.”

In a thanksgiving service held at the State House chapel in Abuja on February 18, 2013, Patience had said she underwent seven surgical operations within one month in Germany, adding that the doctors had given up hope on her survival.

She had stated, “I remember when Chief  Obasanjo was the President of the country, I was close to his late wife, Stella. We worshiped together in this chapel. It was a painful moment for me that time when she (Stella) died and her corpse was brought here.

“That was how my corpse would have been brought here.

‘‘It was not an easy experience for me. I actually died, I passed out for more than a week. My intestine and tummy were opened.

“I am not Lazarus but my experience was similar to his. My doctors said all hope was lost.’’

 

 

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accident

Breaking: Plane crash kills ten people

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Breaking: Plane crash kills Eight people

Breaking: Plane crash kills Ten people

 

 

 

 

A small private jet crashed into a motorbike and a car while attempting to land at an airport in the outskirts of Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur, leaving at least 10 people dead, officials said on Thursday.

 


Breaking: Plane crash kills Eight people

 

A Beechcraft Model 390 (Premier 1) aircraft, a light private business jet, was carrying six passengers and two crew when it crashed near Elmina township at 2.08 p.m. (0608 GMT), just before it was due to land, Selangor police chief Hussein Omar Khan told reporters.

 

 

The aircraft lost contact with the air traffic control tower and crashed into a motorbike and a car on the highway, he said. “There was no emergency call, the aircraft had been given clearance to land,” Hussein Omar said. A search and rescue mission is underway. The country’s civil aviation authority (CAAM) said the flight had departed from the holiday island of Langkawi and was en route to Selangor’s Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport near the capital city Kuala Lumpur.

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Seven Passengers Burnt To Death Near Third Mainland Bridge In Car Accident

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Third Mainland Bridge

Seven Passengers Burnt To Death Near Third Mainland Bridge In Car Accident

Third Mainland Bridge

Seven passengers have been confirmed killed after a commercial bus caught fire in Lagos on Sunday

At least five others were said to have sustained injuries in the tragic incident that occurred at Iyana Oworo, close to the Third Mainland Bridge.

 

 

 

The deceased comprises four females, two male adults and one male child.

The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) said there were 14 passengers in the ill-fated bus with registration number KJA 699 GY.

 

 

 

 

Dr Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, Permanent Secretary of LASEMA, said the driver had some burns.

He added that three female adults involved in the incident were rushed to Gbagada General Hospital and that a male adult was attended to by the Lagos State Ambulance Service (LASAMBUS) at the scene.

 

 

 

“LASTMA officials at the scene have made arrangements to remove the burnt vehicle from the road,” Oke-Osanyintolu said.

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Nigerian Deputy Governor Loses Seven-Year-Old Son In Car Accident

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Nigerian Deputy Governor Loses Seven-Year-Old Son In Car Accident

Nigerian Deputy Governor Loses Seven-Year-Old Son In Car Accident

 

By Olorunfemi Adejuyigbe

 

Nigerian Deputy Governor Loses Seven-Year-Old Son In Car Accident

 

The deputy governor of Yobe State, Hon. Idi Barde Gubana, lost a son in an auto crash which occurred yesterday

A statement signed by his press secretary, Hussaini Mai Suleh, in Damaturu said the seven-year-old boy who was a namesake to Governor Mai Mala Buni died in a crash along Maiduguri-Kano road.

He said the boy had been buried according to Islamic rites at the palace of the Mai of Fune in Damagum town in Fune local government area.
Reacting, the deputy governor said; “I will forever remember him as somebody close to me.’’

Top government officials and other personalities were at the residence of the deputy governor to sympathise with the family over the death.

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