The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is set to declare wanted an alleged accomplice of former first lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, one Esther Oba as part of investigations into a fresh N9bn found in accounts linked to Mrs. Jonathan, Punch reports.
It was gathered that she will be declared wanted if the anti-graft commission fails to find her before the end of Jauuray 2017 under the belief she is fronting for Patience.
This comes less than three weeks after Patience asked the House of Representatives to protect her and her associates from EFCC harassment.
According to an EFCC source, due to the existence of Bank Verification Number, it had become difficult for politically exposed persons to keep huge sums of money in their accounts.
He said, “After we froze Patience Jonathan’s accounts a few months ago, we continued to investigate the former first lady. We then stumbled on about five accounts which did not bear her name but had her signature.
“We realised that one Esther Oba had been operating some accounts for her. The accounts had Oba’s BVN but carried Patience’s signature. This is a clear case of fraud.
“We have been trying to invite the woman but we have not been able to locate her. If in the next two weeks we do not see her, we will have no choice but to declare her wanted and put up her picture in every newspaper in Nigeria.”
It will be recalled that Justice Mojisola Olatoregun-Ishola had recently granted an order freezing bank accounts allegedly belonging to Patience with over N9bn lodged in them.
