Ex-First
Lady, Patience Jonathan
The appeal
filed by the wife of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Patience, to discharge a
court order which temporarily seized the sum of $5.9m found in her
Skye Bank
account, was stalled on Wednesday as one of the three appeal court justices
meant to hear the appeal in Lagos withdrew from the case.
The
three-man appeal court panel, comprising Justices John Ikyeh, Abimbola
Obaseki-Adejumo and Abraham Georgewill, had earlier fixed Wednesday to hear the
appeal.
But when the
case was called on Wednesday morning, Justice Ikyeh, who presided over the
panel, told the counsel on both sides that the appeal could no longer be heard
as one of the three justices had decided to withdraw for personal reasons.
Justice
Ikyeh, however, did not mention the name of the member of the panel who
withdrew but said the appeal had to be further adjourned in the circumstances.
“One
of us is going to recuse himself from this case for personal reasons, so we are
not complete. Two of us cannot make a quorum. So, we’ll give you a date,”
Justice Ikyeh said.
In the
circumstances, counsel for the Economic and Financial Commission, Mr. Rotimi
Oyedepo, urged the appellate court to fix a new date during the court’s long
vacation which would last till September.
Oyedepo said
the EFCC, which is seeking a court order permanently forfeiting Patience’s
$5.9m to the Federal Government, had been handicapped because the Federal High
Court in Lagos, which is hearing the case, had already stayed proceedings to
await the decision of the Court of Appeal.
But Justice
Ikyeh reiterated that nothing could be done because two justices could not form
a quorum.
“We can’t
write anything because we are incomplete. One of us cannot sit over this
appeal,” he said.
The case was
subsequently adjourned till September 18, 2017, after the court’s
vacation.
Patience,
through her lawyer, Chief Ifedayo Adedipe (SAN), is urging the Court of Appeal
to overturn an April 26, 2017 interim order of Justice Mojisola Olatoregun of
the Federal High Court in Lagos, who ordered that the $5.9m found in her Skye
Bank account should be temporarily forfeited to the Federal Government.
The
forfeiture order was made in favour of the EFCC, which took an ex parte
application before the judge.
Apart from
Patience’s personal account with $5.9m, the court also froze a number of
accounts linked with her including an Ecobank account, with a balance of
N2.4bn, opened in the name of one La Wari Furniture and Bath Limited.
In a
supporting affidavit attached to the ex parte application, the EFCC told
Justice Olatoregun that the funds were suspected to be proceeds of Patience’s
alleged criminal activities.
An EFCC
operative, Musbahu Abubakar, who deposed to the affidavit, stated that Patience
opened the Skye Bank account on February 7, 2013, and used it to allegedly
warehouse proceeds of crime.
According to
Abubakar, the former first lady made several cash deposits in United States
dollar into the account, through a former Special Assistant to ex-President
Jonathan, Waripamo-Owei Dudafa, and a State House steward, Festus Iyoha.
He said as
of January 30, 2015, the Skye Bank account had a balance of $6.7m but Patience
subsequently withdrew it down to $5.9m.
The EFCC had
prayed the court to urgently freeze the account so as to prevent Patience for
moving the funds.
Justice
Olatoregun had then granted the interim forfeiture order and adjourned till May
22, 2017, for anyone interested in the funds to appear before her to show cause
why the funds should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.
On May 22,
Patience’s lawyer, Adedipe, appeared in court in company with counsel for La
Wari Furniture and Bath Limited, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), and told Justice
Olatoregun that their clients had appealed the temporary forfeiture order.
They urged
the judge to suspend further proceedings pending the outcome of the appeal.
They argued
that it would be disrespectful for Justice Olatoregun to proceed with the case
after the appeal had been entered and the appellate court had issued a hearing
notice.
Justice
Olatoregun had then consequently adjourned the case till September 24, 2017, to
give the parties time to “ventilate their views in the appellate court.”
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