Court unfreezes Patience Jonathan’s $5.8m account
Justice Mojisola Olatoregun of a Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday ordered the unfreezing of the domiciliary account of Patience Jonathan which contained $5,842,316.66.
The judge had in December 2016 ordered the freezing of the former first lady’s account domiciled in Sky Bank, following an application brought by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) which claimed that the money was proceed of crime.
Also affected by the said order were the accounts of five companies holding N7.4 billion and the account of Esther Oba holding $429,381.87.
In an affidavit in support of ex-parte originating summons sworn to by Abdulahi Tukur an investigating officer of EFCC and filed before the court by EFCC prosecutor Rotimi Oyedepo Iseoluwa, Tukur, averred that Dame Patience Jonathan’s money in Skye Bank with current balance of $5,842,316.66 was presumably suspected to be proceed of crime.
But Mrs. Jonathan, through his lawyer, Adedayo Adedipe (SAN), in an application, had urged the court to unfreeze the account on the ground that Patience Jonathan was not a party in the suit leading to the order made by the court.
In a ruling yesterday Justice Olatoregun upheld the submission of Mr. Adedipe and discharged the order freezing the account.
