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EFCC faults Jonathan cousin’s persecution claims

By Joseph Onyekwere
20 May 2016   |   3:45 am
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has faulted claims of the detained cousin of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Azibaola Robert ...
EFCC chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Magu

EFCC chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Magu

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has faulted claims of the detained cousin of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Azibaola Robert, that he was being pressurised by the agency to implicate the former President ‎in the alleged diversion of $40 million.

The agency in a counter-affidavit opposing the suit filed by Robert before the Federal High Court, Lagos, seeking for an order of the court to release him from the custody of the commission, revealed why the suspect is still in their detention and totally denied any plot to implicate Jonathan in the alleged fraud that his cousin is being investigated.

In the 37-paragraph counter-affidavit deposed to by one Mohammed Abulhamid Hassan, an operative of the agency and filed before the court on May 17, the agency averred that the former President’s cousin was not only being investigated over alleged diversion of $40 million but also on alleged theft of N2.5 billion from the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).

Hassan averred that zonal offices of the agency are saddled with the responsibility of investigating any case or cases reported to them, adding that Robert was alleged to have received the sum of $40 million from former National Security Adviser to the President, Col. Sambo Dasuki and diverted same to his own personal use and to the use of others.

He also revealed that in the course of investigating Robert over the alleged crime, several companies were linked to him and his wife, Stella and that his wife is the Director of Finance and Accountant of all the companies.

He also averred that after rigorous effort of the commission to arrest Robert for the offence, he eventually surrendered himself at the verge of declaring him wanted and was later granted administrative bail which he was not able to perfect in Abuja before the agency got another intelligence report at the zonal office in Lagos which linked him to alleged theft of N2.5 billion from NIMASA.

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