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| Representatives |
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.
NAN
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