Precious Chikwendu, a wife to Femi Fani-Kayode, a former aviation minister and chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party was on Monday, October 17, 2016 arrested with her 8-month-old son by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, at Access Bank in Ado Ekiti, the capital of Ekiti.
In response to the outrage over the action by the anti-graft commission, the EFCC issued a statement claiming that the account was flagged and frozen by the agency because it has N2.4 million which the commission claimed was part of a money laundering case against the Ms. Chikwendu’s husband.
The EFCC denied arresting Ms. Chikwendu and also alleged that her special bank identification number was used on 17 accounts in GTBank.
In a swift reaction, Chikwendu has refuted the claims of the EFCC with evidence. She said that the account had N295,000 and never had a balance of more than N500,000 at any time.
Also, she refuted the claim by the EFCC that she was not arrested by the agency. She said three agents of the commission were at the bank with the intention of whisking her away to Abuja.
“Neither is it true that the EFCC were not at the bank in Ado Ekiti to arrest her because three of their operatives were actually there manning the bank door with their identity cards pinned to their jackets. They were backed by five fully armed policemen in uniform,” the e-mailed statement said.
“They made it clear to Precious Chikwendu that they had been ordered to bring her to Abuja by road that same evening and that if she could not leave her son in the bank with the manager he would have to come for the ride too.
“Had it not been for the intervention of Governor Fayose that is exactly what would have happened and only God knows what they would have been subjected to on the way,” she revealed.
“The assertion by one Wilson Uwajeren who is supposed to be the spokesman of the EFCC that Precious Chikwendu’s Access Bank account was used to launder Jonathan campaign funds or funds from the NSA’s office and that approximately 2.4 million naira balance was found in the said account at the time of her arrest is a lie from the pit of hell,” an e-mailed statement by her assistant, Chinenye Okechukwu, revealed.
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“The said account was opened in 2005 at Onitsha when Precious Chikwendu was about to start at the University of Calabar.
“At that time it was not known as Access Bank but Intercontinental Bank. The account was used by her from 2005 till 2012 when it was abandoned and went dormant.
“It was not utilised or activated again until August 2016 when small deposits of between 200,000 and 500,000 were made into it and the total amount that entered into that account over a period of 2 months was approximately 4 million naira.
“The money was spent on looking after the family, paying staff salaries and to buy groceries.
“Consequently at the time that the account was frozen last Friday the amount that was left in it was N95,000.
“She was not notified about the freezing of the account until someone paid N200,000 into it on Saturday.
“The money entered the account but after that it could not be accessed.
“She decided to stop at the bank on her way out of Ado Ekiti on monday in order to know what was going on and she was then detained and offered to the police and EFCC, together with her 8 month old son Aragorn, for arrest.
“The total amount that was in the account at the time of the arrest was N295,000 naira which is approximately 600 USD.”
“This is reflected in the screenshot above together with the relevant dates.
“How Wilson of the EFCC arrived at his figure of 2.4 million being in the account at the time of arrest is mind-boggling and absurd.
“It is nothing but a shameless and barefaced lie and he and the organisation that he works for are nothing but pernicious liars.
“It is equally absurd to suggest that the said account had anything to do with Jonathan Campaign funds or Dasuki NSA funds given the fact that the said account was not even active or functional between 2012 right up until August 2016.
“The Presidential campaign took place in 2015 and at that time the account was dormant.
“At the time that she abandoned and stopped using the account in 2012 Precious Chikwendu had not even met Chief Fani-Kayode.
“The lies of the EFCC on this matter are sickening and they are wicked and sadistic people.
“Wilson’s assertions are just one example of such lies.
“The only reason that Precious Chikwendu’s bank accounts were frozen and she was subjected to such inhuman treatment is because she is married to Chief Femi Fani-Kayode who is a politician and a leading member of the opposition.
“They wanted to punish her and their 8 month old son Aragorn just to hurt and spite Chief Fani-Kayode,” the statement said.
Ms. Chikwendu also refutted EFCC claims that she had over 17 bank accounts in GTBanks.
“Finally let me add this. It is not true that Precious Chikwendu has 17 accounts in GTB. This is another dirty EFCC lie.
“She has one current account with a merged savings account in GTB which was opened in 2012.
“Outside of that she has a dollar account and a pounds sterling account with the same bank which were all opened on the same day in 2012.
“None of these accounts have any connection whatsoever with public funds or with Chief Femi Fani-Kayode and neither was any GTB BVN linked to his. Again on this issue the EFCC lied.
“Neither is it true that the EFCC were not at the bank in Ado Ekiti to arrest her because three of their operatives were actually there manning the bank door with their identity cards pinned to their jackets. They were backed by five fully armed policemen in uniform.
“They made it clear to Precious Chikwendu that they had been ordered to bring her to Abuja by road that same evening and that if she could not leave her son in the bank with the manager he would have to come for the ride too.
“Had it not been for the intervention of Governor Fayose that is exactly what would have happened and only God knows what they would have been subjected to on the way.”
