EFCC lied about my account balance — Fani-Kayode’s wife

The wife of a former Minister of Aviation, Mrs. Precious Fani-Kayode, has accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission of lying about her account balance.

Mrs. Fani-Kayode was on Monday detained for four hours in the Ado Ekiti branch of Access Bank on the instruction of the EFCC.

The EFCC’s spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, while reacting to the arrest in a statement, said the account balance of N2.3m was flagged following investigation into the Peoples Democratic Party Joint Trust Fund when the commission traced N1.1bn to the Zenith Bank account of Fani-Kayode.

He stated that the account had two biometric identification numbers, one for Fani-Kayode and the other for his wife.

“The same BVN is linked to two other accounts in Diamond Bank and 15 accounts in Guaranty Trust Bank.”

But describing the statement as “a lie from the pit of hell,” Chineye Okechukwu, the Special Assistant to Mrs. Fani-Kayode, said the account had not been in use since 2012 until August 2016.

“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 N200,000  and N500,000 were made into it and the total amount that entered into that account over a period of two months was approximately N4m.

“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 the EFCC, together with her eight-month-old son, Aragorn, for arrest.

“The total amount that was in the account at the time of the arrest was N295,000 which is approximately 600 USD.”

The statement added that it was “absurd to suggest that the said account had anything to do with the 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.

“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.”