The Federal High Court in Lagos has vacated its order which late last year froze the Skye Bank account of Mrs. Patience Jonathan, the wife of ex-Presi
The Federal High Court in Lagos has vacated its order which late last year froze the Skye Bank account of Mrs. Patience Jonathan, the wife of ex-President Goodluck Jzonathan. The account had a balance of $5.9m at the period.
In a ruling on Thursday, Justice Mojisola Olatoregun, set aside the ‘No-Debit Order’, which the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had earlier placed on the account on allegations that the $5.9m found in it was proceeds of crime. The judge upheld the contention of Patience’s lawyer, Mr. Ifedayo Adedipe (SAN), that his client’s account was unlawfully frozen by the EFCC.
Adedipe had urged the court to unfreeze Patience account on the grounds that she was not a party to the suit leading to the freezing order.
Citing judicial authorities, Adedipe contended that the suit was an abuse of court processes, contending that the court had no jurisdiction to make an order against someone who was not a party in a suit filed before the court. The judge upheld the submission and therefore unfroze Patience’s account.
Justice Olatoregun said she had no option but to discharge the freezing order as the EFCC, despite being served with Patience application, did not file a counter-affidavit to oppose her prayers and all the averments contained in her affidavit.
She stated, “It is trite in law that an order cannot be made against any person who is not a party before the court.
“It was not controverted that Dame Patience Jonathan is not a party in the order obtained in this court.
“I hereby make an order unfreezing the Sky Bank account belonging to Dame Patience Jonathan forthwith,” the judge held.
Meanwhile, Adedipe also went before Justice Mohammed Idris of the same court, on Thursday, praying the judge to order the EFCC to release to Patience the sum of $15.591m, which was seized from four companies by the anti-graft agency. Justice Idris adjourned to May 8, 2017 to decide whether or not to grant the prayer.
Punch
