Ohaneze youths: ‘EFCC trying to convict former first lady, Patience Jonathan, at all cost’

The youth wing of the pan-Igbo socio-political group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, of persecution and trying to convict former first lady, Patience Jonathan, at all cost.

The youth group in a statement signed by its National President, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, further accused the anti-graft agency of always rushing to the media to convict suspects without thorough investigations.

“The EFCC is simply persecuting ex first lady, Dame Patience Jonathan. She has already been found guilty without trial in a court of competent jurisdiction. This is unhealthy for our democracy.

EFCC is clearly running a campaign of calumny intended to convict Dame Patience Jonathan at all cost. The former first lady is yet to be tried in court, yet the EFCC has been treating her as a criminal. This strategy of trial in the media must stop.

“To fight corruption, the process must be thorough and not selective. EFCC is not a court and must submit to the laws of the land. The haste to rush to the media to vilify suspects is responsible for the low number of convictions recorded by the EFCC.

“If we may ask, where are the wives of former first ladies including past Nigerian leaders who were at various times accused of corruption? Why can’t they be investigated? We can only take EFCC serious as anti-graft agency when it investigates the likes of ex-Presidents, Ibrahim Babangida, Abdulsalami Abubakar, Olusegun Obasanjo, including late ones.”

While reiterating its stand against corruption, the group called on the EFCC to thoroughly investigate suspects before rushing to the media, stressing that such has injured the reputation of suspects who were later be found innocent of the charges levied on them.