Ekiti State governor, Mr. Ayo Fayose is fighting back at President Muhammadu Buhari and Aisha Buhari has been “outed”.
Monday, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, froze the governor’s personal account in Zenith Bank over an undisclosed “investigation”.
After announcing the freezing of his account on social media, Governor Fayose said that President Muhammadu Buhari is corrupt. The governor went on to expose the role that the president’s wife, Aisha Buhari, Nigeria’s first lady played in the bribery scandal involving Williams Jefferson, a former US lawmaker.
The Ekiti state governor distributed a link to the US Department of Justice’s website where court documents mentioning Aisha Buhari one who aided the transfer of bribers to Jefferson, an American lawmaker who was convicted of corruption in 2009 and is currently serving his sentence in a US prison.
In a statement signed by his chief press secretary, Idowu Adelusi, Fayose said President Buhari was far from being a clean man.
“Even the President cannot claim to be an angel,” the governor said, in reaction to the freezing of his Zenith Bank account by the anti-graft commission.
“The estate he built in Abuja is known to us. His wife was indicted over the Halliburton scandal.
“When that American, Jefferson, was being sentenced, the president’s wife was mentioned as having wired $170,000 to Jefferson. Her name was on page 25 of the sentencing of Jefferson. We can serialize the judgment for people to see and read.”
The governor’s special assistant on new media, Lere Olayinka, later circulated a link to and copies of the court document detailing Mrs Aisha Buhari role in the bribery case which is part of the infamous Halliburton bribery case.
The documents showed that in some of the exhibits tendered in convicting Mr. Jefferson of bribery, Mrs. Aisha Buhari was mentioned as transferring $170,000 to the American politician using a firm as proxy.
“Government Exhibits 36-87 (6/26/02 $170,000 wire transfer from account in Nigeria in the name of Aisha Buhari to an account in the name of The ANJ Group, LLC, identifying “William Jefferson” as Beneficiary),” the US Government Sentencing Memorandum said on page 22.
Here is the US Court judgement linking Buhari’s wife, Aisha with the Halliburton Scam. pic.twitter.com/6i7lQVLxzy
— Lere Olayinka (@OlayinkaLere) June 20, 2016
Femi Adesina, Buhari’s spokesman, when contacted, declined comment. He said he would need to check the document before issuing a statement.
Aisha Buhari Named In Jefferson Bribery Scandal
Fayose’s statement revives a scandal that involves several top Nigerians, including former vice president, Mr. Atiku Abubakar.
Between 2000 and 2005, William Jefferson used his position as lawmaker in the US house of representatives to sell influence private companies for cash. According to court documents, Jefferson and members of his family received about $367,500 through his firm, ANJ Group, for services rendered to iGate, an American broadband technology provider.
An indigenous firm, Netlink Digital Television, had signed a joint venture with iGate to set up digital satellite TV and broadband Internet services in Nigeria. NDTV was owned by Oyewole Fasawe, a Nigerian politician at the time. Mr. Jefferson was contracted to help promote iGate and NDTV partnership in Nigeria.
Following a lengthy trial, Mr. Jefferson was convicted in 2009 and sentenced to 13 years in prison. Although Mr. Fasawe was arrested in 2005 by the EFCC, he was never convicted.
Nigeria’s former VP, Atiku Abubakar was marked as “a person of interest” in the case. Both Aisha Buhari and the former vice president are reportedly “wanted” in the United States. Curiously, Aisha Buhari has not visited the United States since her husband became president.
An EFCC report to then President Olusegun Obasanjo on June 22, 2006 on the bribery case contained Mrs. Aisha Buhari’s Citizens Bank account statements and implicated her for transferring funds to Mr. Jefferson.
A 2007 New York Times’ article detailed how Mrs. Aisha Buhari told an acquaintance in Washington that she was a daughter of a former Nigerian head of state and a friend of Mr. Jefferson.
“As the pair struck up a conversation and subsequently became friends, Mr. Assiba, then a security guard, said she told him that her father was the former military ruler of Nigeria, General Muhammadu Buhari, and that her American friends included politicians like Mr. Jefferson of Louisiana.”
Fayose Says EFCC Action Violates Constitution
Governor Ayo Fayose enjoys immunity from prosecution according to the constitution of Nigeria. He has sites section 308 of the 1999 constitution of Nigeria saying that the action by the EFCC violates the constitution and as such, it is illegal.
“I got mind of the fact that the EFCC had placed restriction order on my personal account and that of my associates. I came here today and I have been able to see it. This action shows that this government has no respect for the constitution because I enjoy immunity under Section 308,” the governor said.
“I support government fighting corruption, but it has to be within the ambit of the law. You can investigate me, it is their right, but they have to wait till 2018, because I will be done by then. They should not be in a hurry because I will personally come to them for investigation.”
An informed source says that the bank accounts of associates of the Ekiti governor have also been frozen.
In reaction to Fayose’s comments, the EFCC has said that immunity does not stop the commission from investigating suspicious account belonging to any governor.
Governor Ayo Fayose is a vocal critic of Muhammadu Buhari and his government which has been accused of gross violation of human rights and genocide by human rights activists.
