Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Thursday, May 17, 2018, described as “judicial rascality” the issues raised by a businesswoman, Bola Shagaya, in an
application seeking an order of the court to set aside the ruling given by Justice M.S. Hassan of the same court ordering the interim attachment of her account pending conclusion of investigation.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, #EFCC, had on December 29, 2016, secured an order of Justice Hassan to freeze a Unity Bank account with a balance of N1,902,673,399.93 belonging to Shagaya.
The money was the balance of a total of N3,305,150,000, which Shagaya allegedly received as “Finder fees” on behalf of an organisation, “Women for Change” being promoted by a former First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan.
It was further alleged that the N3.3bn was realized through Shagaya’s fraudulent activities in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, where she was said to have influenced the allocation of Dual Purpose Kerosene to Index Petrolube Africa Limited, with the aid of the former First Lady.
The N3.3bm was allegedly paid by Index Petrolube Africa Limited and sister company, Autodex Nigeria Limited, which are said to belong to Hon. Ezeani ThankGod. .
It was also alleged that the reason for the payment of the N3.3bn was to “fraudulently facilitate allocation of Dual Purpose Kerosene to ThankGod’s company, Index Petrolube Africa Limited.”
Out of the N3.3bn, Shagaya was said to have “paid a cumulative sum of N1,212,000,000 to the former First Lady through her ‘‘Women for Change Initiative” account domiciled in Diamond Bank, to which the former First Lady is the sole signatory.”
Shagaya allegedly “warehoused” the balance of N1.9bn in her account in Unity Bank. .
Through her lawyer, Shagaya, in an originating summons, had urged Justice Oguntoyinbo to grant her access to the account, which has been frozen since December 29, 2016.