Mrs. Jonathan is the subject of an EFCC investigation
regarding the source of the money but she has continued maintaining her
innocence — even though the four individuals representing the companies linked
with the alleged laundering have pleaded guilty to the charge in court.
The companies – Seagate Property Development &
Investment Co. Limited; Pluto Property and Investment Company Limited; Trans
Ocean Property and Investment Company Limited and Development Company Limited –
pleaded guilty to conspiring to launder $15 million.
Directors of the companies are domestic workers of
Waripamowei Dudafa, Jonathan’s special adviser on domestic affairs.
The former first lady had previously clarified that the $15m
was for her foreign medical bills and other private expenses. But responding in
an open letter to the EFCC chairman released late Sunday night by her lawyers,
First Law Solicitors, she said it would be “counter-productive and inimical to
the public interest” if the attorney general of the federation and/or the EFCC
heeds the “irresponsible calls” for her arrest and prosecution “based on
suspicion”.
On the freezing, her lawyers told Ibrahim Magu: “Sir,
instead of strict compliance with the above pattern, as laid down by SECTION
36(6)(a) & (b) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the EFCC went after
our Client’s money by ordering a freeze of her accounts. With all due respect,
the EFCC is a BIG THIEF!”
THE FULL STATEMENT
1. By virtue of the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement
Procedure) Rules 2009, we are Solicitors to HER EXCELLENCY, MRS. PATIENCE
IBIFAKA GOODLUCK JONATHAN, the wife to the immediate past President of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria, HIS EXCELLENCY, DR. GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN, GCFR.
We shall hereinafter, refer to Mrs. Patience Goodluck Jonathan as “OUR CLIENT.”
2. Our Client is a respected senior citizen of international
repute, a retired Permanent Secretary and the immediate past First Lady of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria. Our Client is a law-abiding citizen who has never
or at all been the subject of any criminal and/or financial investigation,
whether at home or abroad. Accordingly, she has not been found guilty of any
criminal conduct throughout a sparkling public service career spanning over 35
years.
3. During the 5 years our Client served as First Lady of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria between May, 2010 and May, 2015; she was the
Initiator/Founder of the A. ARUERA WOMEN FOUNDATION as well as the WOMEN FOR
CHANGE INITIATIVE; both of which Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs)
substantially contributed to the 35 per cent affirmative action for women in
the country. Our Client is the recipient of numerous local and international
awards in recognition of her untiring commitment towards uplifting the living
standard of women, children and the aged in Nigeria.
4. Sir, it is against this sterling and meritorious
background of our Client that we most respectfully, write to draw your
attention to the numerous breaches of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and
the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (Ratification and Enforcement)
Act 2004 committed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in
cause of the Commission’s illegal and unlawful investigation of our Client for
alleged money laundering. These investigations have reportedly led to the freeze
of our Client’s accounts and led to untold consequences to our Client’s health
and wellbeing.
5. Firstly, the EFCC must realize that the ECONOMIC AND
FINANCIAL CRIMES COMMISSION (ESTABLISHMENT) ACT 2004 is inferior in content and
quality to both the 1999 CONSTITUTION OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA (AS
AMENDED) and THE AFRICAN CHARTER ON HUMAN AND PEOPLES RIGHTS 2004.
6. To that extent, it is trite law that, where there is a
conflict or an inconsistency between the EFCC ACT, on the one hand; and the
combined provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the African
Charter on Human and Peoples Rights 2004, on the other hand; the extant
provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the African Charter on
Human and Peoples Rights 2004 must necessarily prevail to the extent of the
said inconsistency.
7. However, we note, with regret, that in the current matter
involving the curious and bizarre investigation of our esteemed Client, the
EFCC under your watch has not only undermined the 1999 Constitution (as
amended) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights; the Commission
has actually conducted itself in a most desperate, despicable and arrogant
manner. This is rather unfortunate.
8. Sir, one of the cardinal principles enshrined in both
Nigerian and African jurisprudence, is that of the presumption of innocence
which is guaranteed to all citizens, including our Client.
9. Consequently, the SPECIAL POWERS of the Commission as
defined by SECTION 7(1) & (2) of the EFCC ACT 2004 to, among others, “cause
investigations to be conducted into the properties of any person if it appears
to the Commission that the person’s life style and extent of the properties are
not justified by his source of income,” is inconsistent with and contrary to
the mandatory requirement of SECTION 36(6)(a) & (b) of the 1999
Constitution (as amended), which states thus:
“Every person who is charged with a criminal offence shall
be entitled to – (a) be informed promptly in the language that he understands
and in detail of the nature of the offence; (b) be given adequate time and
facilities for the preparation of his defence;”
10. The necessary implication or import of SECTION 36(6)(a)
& (b) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) is that the EFCC’s so-called
power to arbitrarily and unlawfully investigate our esteemed Client and
thereby, freeze her accounts with total sum in excess of FIFTEEN MILLION US
DOLLARS which are domiciled with SKYE BANK PLC is NOT ABSOLUTE.
11. Sir, it is our Client’s brief that there is no formal
criminal complaint of economic and financial crime as defined by the EFCC ACT
2004 written by any person or institution against her which warranted the EFCC
to freeze her accounts.
12. It is also our Client’s brief that the EFCC failed to
obtain a Court Order as required by SECTION 34 of the EFCC ACT before her
accounts were frozen.
13. It is our Client’s further brief that, up until the
writing of this Open Letter, she has not received any formal invitation to
appear before the Commission for questioning; whereas her accounts domiciled
with SKYE BANK PLC have since been frozen by the Commission without recourse to
her.
14. Sir, the argument put forward by the Commission in the
public domain that, “investigations are ongoing…Mrs. Patience Jonathan shall be
invited in due course,” are not only vexatious and provocative. They constitute
an outright violation and rape of the fundamental right to fair hearing and
ownership of property as guaranteed to our Client by the 1999 Constitution (as
amended) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights 2004.
15. Indeed, SECTION 36(6)(a) & (b) of the 1999
Constitution (as amended), contains or laid down a sequence or pattern of
commencement of investigation which MUST BE FOLLOWED STRICTLY, to wit:
a. Persons charged with a criminal offence must be informed
in the language they understand and in detail of the nature of the offence;
b. Such persons must be given adequate time and facilities
for the preparation of their defence; etc
16. Sir, instead of strict compliance with the above
pattern, as laid down by SECTION 36(6)(a) & (b) of the 1999 Constitution
(as amended), the EFCC went after our Client’s money by ordering a freeze of
her accounts. With all due respect, the EFCC is a BIG THIEF!
17. We are very much aware of numerous instances where EFCC
used strong-arm tactics to dispossess hard working Nigerians of their legitimately
earned money; only to turn around to brazenly and shamelessly loot the
recovered loot. This is one of such unfortunate instances. Clearly, it is a
failed politically-motivated attempt by the EFCC to steal our Client’s money
using the cover of the present political climate.
18. We are sufficiently convinced that prebendal politics of
the sort that smears the image and reputation of former public office holders,
together with that of members of their families – which automatically,
distracts from governance and slows down the nation’s pace of development – is
one of the major reasons for the persistent and unrelenting
politically-motivated attacks on our Client who is extremely popular with
Nigerian women, children and the aged.
19. We have rightly observed that each time a new Government
was sworn into office, political jobbers such as the EFCC promptly mobilized
themselves to throw mud, blackmail and/or otherwise label members of the
immediate past Government; all in a desperate bid to accomplish or satisfy
narrow and base political interests to the detriment of the entire country.
This disturbing familiar pattern of unjustifiable, bankrupt and hollow
harassment of the nation’s former leaders is deplorable.
20. Our Client has unfortunately, come under the vice grip
and stranglehold of the cabal of political jobbers who would not allow her
concentrate on her private life in retirement. Ironically, our Client’s most
virulent critics and traducers come from the human rights community in Nigeria
which benefited immensely from her husband’s fairly commendable human rights
record, while he served as President.
21. Notably, we recall that the Freedom of Information Act
2015 was signed into law by former President Goodluck Jonathan. The Criminal
Justice Administration Law 2015 was also signed into law by the former
President. Needless to say, these extant laws have strengthened Nigeria’s civil
society to act effectively as the nation’s “fourth arm of government.”
22. For the avoidance of doubt, it shall be
counter-productive and inimical to the public interest if the Attorney General
of the Federation and/or the EFCC heeded the irresponsible calls to commence
the arrest and prosecution of our Client based on suspicion. If they did
otherwise, they shall be violating the extant provision of SECTION 174(3) of
the 1999 Constitution (as amended) which clearly prohibits criminal proceedings
that were not in the public interest. Besides, suspicion; no matter how strong
it may seem; cannot ground a conviction.
23. We hereby categorically and emphatically state that, HER
EXCELLENCY, MRS. PATIENCE IBIFAKA GOODLUCK JONATHAN SHOULD BE LEFT ALONE!
24. Furthermore, there is no established legal or political
precedent for what the EFCC is currently doing to our Client. How many former
First Ladies in Nigeria have received the Patience Goodluck Jonathan Treatment
(PGJT) to have warranted the EFCC to engage in the effrontery to freeze our
Client’s accounts and subject her to public opprobrium, ridicule and disgrace?
This nonsense must stop forthwith!
25. Consequently, we urge the EFCC to de-freeze our Client’s
accounts WITHIN 14 DAYS from today, September 18, 2016 and tender a public
apology to our Client.
26. TAKE NOTICE; AND NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that if the EFCC
fails, refuses and/or neglects to comply accordingly, we shall file an action
at the AFRICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN AND PEOPLES RIGHTS at The Gambia demanding
FIVE BILLION NAIRA in exemplary and punitive damages.
Yours faithfully,
FOR: FIRST LAW SOLICITORS (Legal Practitioners)
SIGNED:
TIMIPA JENKINS OKPONIPERE, ESQ.
Senior Partner
September 18, 2016
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