[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hy has Dame Patience Jonathan not be invited for questioning by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC,? Why has she not been locked up, charges upon charges filed against her to keep her in EFCC custody for over one month or two as they did to Olisa Metuh and Femi Fani-Kayode and others? May be whisk her up to Kuje or Kirikiri in Lagos before she is released on bail? Why?
The Dame even had the audacity to call the EFCC thieves for trying to get her money. I haven’t heard she apologized yet. I am not sure how much the money is but the media reported something about $35 million all together. I heard she mention about $15 million was for her health or so. That’s a whopping lot of money and it got me thinking what is possibly wrong with the Dame? One time I heard she said she died and resurrected, I am not sure that was exactly what she said, but that was what her haters on social media reported. So any ailment that kill you and you defied death by waking up must be serious. Death is no joking matter.
I even saw reports that she used her houseboy, driver, and all sorts of domestic staffs to open the juicy dollar accounts and that they have not only confessed but pleaded guilty. What more evidence do the EFCC need to invite the Dame for questioning?
The Dame is accusing the EFCC of conniving with those who pleaded guilty to tarnish her image. The EFCC that bulldozed into Femi Fani Kayode’s house, harassed Olisa Metuh, and detained many others, manufacturing charges upon charges to keep them in jail has still not invited the Dame. Just an invitation to ask her to prove how she got her hand on that amount of money.
It is not strange for a president’s wife to have that kind of money in her account in a Nigeria like ours. It is not strange at all. We are talking of Nigeria not someplace else and even the EFCC knows that. They definitely know that. Magu knows that. But since it is all out in the media let’s get to the bottom of this drama. I say it is not strange because all the presidents wives do their thing by the side, all of them. I don’t know what it is but they do their thing by the side. They influence contracts, do contracts, give contracts, in fact they have a lot of influence. All the Madams at the top in my time do their thing by the side, from Maryam Babangida, the first that I really know when she was in power to Stella Obasanjo, Turai Yar’adua and the Dame. As for Aisha Buhari, she is still in power so we wouldn’t know.
What I am saying is that the Dame should be treated like any other Nigerian. She should not be given any special treatment. That the EFCC has not invited her for questioning is suspicious.
George Onmonya Daniel is a youth activist and political commentator. This article was first published on New Issues Magazine. Connect with him on Facebook.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
