The
House of Representatives on Wednesday asked National Drug Law Enforcement
Agency (NDLEA) for identities of informants whose tip-off led to raid on former
First Lady, Patience Jonathan’s property.
The
House’s Committee on Public Petition gave the order on Wednesday in its session
on a petition on incessant harassment of herself and family sent to it by the
former first lady.
The
committee also summoned the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC),
Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Police to appear as defendants in
the petition.
A
Director in the NDLEA, Mr Femi Oloruntoba, had told the committee at the
hearing that the agency got a tip-off from an unnamed source that the property
located at Igbeti Rock Street, Maitama, Abuja, was being used for illicit drug
activities.
“Based
on the information, eight officers of the agency visited the premises after
surveillance was conducted on it. It is not true that 50 officers from my
agency visited the premises,” he said.
According
to Oloruntoba, the officer who met two occupants of the premises provided them
with a search endorsement form, which they endorsed indicating that the search
was conducted without any damage to the property or loss of items.
He
said that the agency was not aware that the premises belonged to the former
first lady, adding that a letter was written by a solicitor on behalf of a man
who claimed to be the owner of the premises.
Consequently,
the committee requested NDLEA to provide it with the identity of the claimed
source before the next adjourned date.
The
legal team from Granville Abibo & Co. led by Mr Sammie Somiari, who
petitioned the lower chamber on behalf of Mrs Jonathan, had earlier told the
committee that it would adopt the initial petition as its brief in the matter.
Somiari
added that additional documents were available to substantiate whatever they
had raised in the petition.
He
said the respondents, including the mentioned agencies, had engaged in wanton
attacks on the former first lady and her relations.
He
cited different media reports and newspaper headlines as pointers to the
allegation of attacks on Jonathan.
He
said “the EFCC has serially orchestrated a design to freeze the personal
accounts of Mrs Jonathan, her siblings and other relations and associates
“A
case in point is one Aridolf Jo Resort Wellness and Spa Ltd off Okota Estate
and Finchley Top Homes Limited which were all shut down without any justifiable
reason by the EFCC with their accounts frozen.”
The
committee asked its secretariat to send reminders to all agencies joined in the
case that were yet to appear to provide documents regarding their role in the
matter.
It
adjourned its session to Sept. 19, 2017.
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