The minister of information, Lai Mohammed, has said on Tuesday that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was not probing Patience Jonathan, ex- first lady, for admitting the ownership of the $34.1m in an account that has been frozen by the anti-graft commission.
Reacting to the rumors that the former first lady was been persecuted by Buhari ,he disclosed that $5 million was discovered when she admitted she owned the $34.1m.
It would be recalled that the ex-firstlady approached the Lagos federal high court to claim ownership of the money confiscated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
He said, “If you look at the history of Mrs. Patience Jonathan’s issue, I think she was the one that came out to claim that the money found in the accounts of one of the aides to the former President, her husband, belonged to her,” Mohammed said.
“It was not the EFCC that claimed so. She claimed that the money that the guy was being prosecuted for belonged to her. It was only then they later found an extra $5m in another account.
“It is not as if anybody has gone out to probe Mrs. Jonathan directly or indirectly. Rather Mrs. Jonathan was the one that said ‘that money for which you are accusing Mr. X actually belongs to me.
“So, you cannot start talking of prosecution or persecution.”