Operatives of the Nigeria Police Force were said to have raided the house of Dame Patience Jonathan, the wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan, in Abuja on Wednesday, with the aim of uncovering huge foreign currencies allegedly kept in the building.
Multiple sources familiar with the investigation said that the police raided the house on a tip-off that a huge amount, allegedly stolen government money, was kept in the building located at Igbeti Rock, Maitama, Abuja.
The operation was carried out by operatives of the Special Investigation Panel and headed by a retired Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Ali Amodu.
The operation was carried out following a command by the Federal Government Asset Recovery and Forfeiture Committee.
Sources explained that an informant had tipped the Federal Government about huge sums of stolen cash allegedly hidden in the building and in three other different locations in the Federal Capital Territory.
It was learnt that the informant, who told the government about the cash in the Maitama property, had hinted that the suspect planned to move the money anytime.
Following the intelligence report, the SIP operatives stormed the duplex on Wednesday, but did not find any cash.
A source explained that the police did not know that the building belonged to Jonathan until she identified herself as a former First Lady to the team leader, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Adebo Williams, on the telephone.
The source stated, “At the house, the security men said the house belonged to one Jaga, a Rivers State indigene, and the team leader was directed to call the owner.
“The security man gave the phone to the team leader and she identified herself as former First Lady.
“She spoke in pidgin English and told the operatives to go and take whatever they kept in the house. The team leader advised her to send her lawyer and she did. The house was searched in the lawyer’s presence.”
In his reaction, Patience Jonathan’s lawyer, Mr. Charles Ogboli, described the allegations by the police that they had information of huge foreign currencies deposited in the house as unfounded.
He said, “I wonder what they (police) want to gain from all these. In their report, they said no incriminating document or whatever was found there. You should understand that this is not the first time that premises were raided. Both EFCC and NDLEA found nothing.
“What is even the interest of the NDLEA in a matter that concerns money? They said they got information that there was a huge amount of money in the house. Are they saying that within the period of time they came, the money disappeared within an interval of 30 minutes?
“There is no such information that there is a huge safe and that they saw bulletproof cars. That you find a car in a place and saw a huge safe are trivial issues because these are human beings that were living good even before the husband became a public officer.
“Madam (Patience) did not give them the authority to go ahead with that search.”
