Wife of
former President Goodluck Jonathan, Patience, on Friday urged the Federal High
Court in Lagos to order the release of the $5.7m and N2.4bn seized from her by
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Her lawyer,
Chief Ifedayo Adedipe (SAN), urged Justice Mojisola
Olatoregun to dismiss the application by the EFCC, praying that the money be
permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.
Adedipe argued that it was wrong for the EFCC to tag the money
as proceeds of crime, when Patience had committed no crime and when nobody
complained that their money was missing.
The SAN said the funds were cash gifts which Patience received
when her husband was in office.
Adedipe said such gifts were normal, pointing out that even the
wife of President Muhammadu Buhari, Aisha, was seeking to build a university.
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 SAN said.
Adedipe said 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.
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