According to the
commander who made this known on the Facebook page of US Embassy
Nigeria, Nigeria's navy is a key player in the fight against illicit
maritime activity.
She said: "Nigeria has over 450 miles of coastline and their central
location in the Gulf of Guinea makes their Navy a key player in the
fight against illicit maritime activity.
"I'm visiting to discuss the security challenges and deepening our
relationship in training and exercises.” Read more:
https://www.naij.com/1124968-why-us-commander-visited-nigeria.html
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has traced a magnificient
architectural edifice of an uncompleted eight-storey building in Abuja
to be allegedly owned by wife of former president of Nigeria, Patience
Jonathan.
The building, which is valued at N6billion, is located
within the Central Business District, between the National Mosque and
the Federal Secretariat.
It was alleged that the property was bought through her foundation known as Aribawa Aurera Reach Out Foundation.
In
a document, which has been attached to a court application, the
anti-graft agency said it had written to the Corporate Affairs
Commission to get the identities of the directors of the foundation who
are believed to be fronts for Patience.
The commission further
stated that it had written to the Abuja Geographical Information System
to get the history of the property and how and when it was bought.
The
anti-graft agency has also written eight banks: Skye Bank, Fidelity
Bank, First Bank, Union Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank, Zenith Bank, United
Bank for Africa and Unity Bank.
Recall that the EFCC had
frozen tan account belonging to the Aribawa Aurera Reach Out Foundation
with account number 1222014221 in Ecobank with a balance of N479m.
The
document read, “Plot 1350 Cadastral Zone A00 CBD which was allocated to
Ariwabai Aurera Reach Out Foundation in 2010 and Certificate of
Occupancy issued in 2011. The plot bears an eight-storey building still
under construction.
“Inference may be drawn from
investigation that the suspect’s (Patience) last known official position
was permanent secretary in Bayelsa State. Hence, there is no way such
magnificent architectural edifices could have been built within a short
space of time.
“There is a high probability that it could have
been built with the proceeds of crime. It is evidently clear that it is a
case of money laundering but there is a need to do more investigation.”
The
commission had also sealed a five-storey hotel, belonging to Patience,
believed to be worth about N3bn located near Setraco Construction
Company beside Mabushi Kado Expressway.
The property, which has not been officially opened, has between 50 to 100 rooms, a gymnasium, a fountain and other amenities.
Patience
has been under probe since May 2016 when the commission arrested a
former Special Adviser to the President on Domestic Affairs, Waripamowei
Dudafa.
Patience laid claim to about $15m found in bank accounts allegedly belonging to Dudafa’s domestic servants.
She
later sued Skye Bank Plc and the EFCC after which the commission,
through a court order, froze her personal account with a balance of $5m.
However,
in the case of the alleged N2bn hotel, the Anti-graft agency, it was
learned, had proceeded to court to obtain an interim forfeiture order
for the hotel and a N6bn plaza.
The document read in part, “In
view of the foregoing, I request for an interim forfeiture order on the
two properties amongst others linked to the suspect and believed to have
been acquired from the proceeds of crime.
“This is particularly
very important because attempts to mark the properties were resisted and
even the portion that was successfully marked was later cleaned off by
the agents of the suspect.”
In a similar development, the
anti-graft agency has also traced three other properties in Abuja to
Patience in Karsana, Wasa and Idogwari areas of the Federal Capital
Territory.
According to documents from AGIS, the three properties
were bought in the names of two companies – Finchley Top Homes Ltd. and
AM-PM Network Limited.
The bank accounts of Finchley Top Homes
Limited, which have been traced to Patience, were frozen by the
commission a few months ago.
The accounts include: Account number
1102001996 in Ecobank, with a balance of N226,376,700.23 and a fixed
deposit of N1,099,511,484.88; a Skye Bank account numbered 1771731336,
with a balance of N14,173,848.85; Fidelity Bank account numbered,
4011019539 with a balance of N1,800,494,000; Stanbic Bank account
numbered, 0016901361, with a balance of N40,594,12.88; and Diamond Bank
account 0019213687 with a balance of N39,418,712.12.
In his
reaction, Patience’s lawyer, Mr. Ifedayo Adedipe (SAN), said he was not
aware of the fresh attempt to seize more of his client’s properties.
He, however, said it was sad that the former first lady had become a victim of a witch-hunt.
Adedipe
said her client had dragged the EFCC to the Court of Appeal over the
freezing of Mrs. Jonathan’s account while a harassment suit had been
filed against the anti-graft agency before a Federal High Court.
The
senior advocate said, “I am not aware of any of these but we are in
court over the freezing of her accounts and that case is at the Court of
Appeal level and we have a fundamental human rights case against them
in court.
“My thinking is that the EFCC, which says nobody is
above the law, should have waited for the judiciary to finish its
process. In my humble opinion, it appears they are abusing judicial
powers. When you file something today, tomorrow you file another. Why
not put everything in one pot? That is why they lose cases.
“Why
are they focusing on Mrs. Jonathan who was neither a minister nor a
government official? I’m not saying people should steal but it may seem
she is being persecuted wrongly”.
According to the
commander who made this known on the Facebook page of US Embassy
Nigeria, Nigeria's navy is a key player in the fight against illicit
maritime activity.
She said: "Nigeria has over 450 miles of coastline and their central
location in the Gulf of Guinea makes their Navy a key player in the
fight against illicit maritime activity.
"I'm visiting to discuss the security challenges and deepening our
relationship in training and exercises.” Read more:
https://www.naij.com/1124968-why-us-commander-visited-nigeria.html
According to the
commander who made this known on the Facebook page of US Embassy
Nigeria, Nigeria's navy is a key player in the fight against illicit
maritime activity.
She said: "Nigeria has over 450 miles of coastline and their central
location in the Gulf of Guinea makes their Navy a key player in the
fight against illicit maritime activity.
"I'm visiting to discuss the security challenges and deepening our
relationship in training and exercises.” Read more:
https://www.naij.com/1124968-why-us-commander-visited-nigeria.html
According to the
commander who made this known on the Facebook page of US Embassy
Nigeria, Nigeria's navy is a key player in the fight against illicit
maritime activity.
She said: "Nigeria has over 450 miles of coastline and their central
location in the Gulf of Guinea makes their Navy a key player in the
fight against illicit maritime activity.
"I'm visiting to discuss the security challenges and deepening our
relationship in training and exercises.” Read more:
https://www.naij.com/1124968-why-us-commander-visited-nigeria.html
According to the
commander who made this known on the Facebook page of US Embassy
Nigeria, Nigeria's navy is a key player in the fight against illicit
maritime activity.
She said: "Nigeria has over 450 miles of coastline and their central
location in the Gulf of Guinea makes their Navy a key player in the
fight against illicit maritime activity.
"I'm visiting to discuss the security challenges and deepening our
relationship in training and exercises.” Read more:
https://www.naij.com/1124968-why-us-commander-visited-nigeria.html
According to the
commander who made this known on the Facebook page of US Embassy
Nigeria, Nigeria's navy is a key player in the fight against illicit
maritime activity.
She said: "Nigeria has over 450 miles of coastline and their central
location in the Gulf of Guinea makes their Navy a key player in the
fight against illicit maritime activity.
"I'm visiting to discuss the security challenges and deepening our
relationship in training and exercises.” Read more:
https://www.naij.com/1124968-why-us-commander-visited-nigeria.html
According to the
commander who made this known on the Facebook page of US Embassy
Nigeria, Nigeria's navy is a key player in the fight against illicit
maritime activity.
She said: "Nigeria has over 450 miles of coastline and their central
location in the Gulf of Guinea makes their Navy a key player in the
fight against illicit maritime activity.
"I'm visiting to discuss the security challenges and deepening our
relationship in training and exercises.” Read more:
https://www.naij.com/1124968-why-us-commander-visited-nigeria.html
