18th October, 2016
The woman described in some posts as the wife of Chief Femi Fani Kayode and her child were reportedly detained by the EFCC.
Femi Fani-Kayode confirmed that the woman and son arrested by the EFCC were his wife and eight-month old son, Aragorn.
But the EFCC in a late statement Monday denied detaining any one, while also revealing the role of Governor Ayo Fayose in frustrating the arrest.
Wilson Uwujaren, EFCC spokesman said Fayose stormed the bank in Ado-Ekiti with thugs to stop the arrest.
“Contrary to the media spin about the purported arrest of mother and child, a certain Chikwendu Sonia today attempted to withdraw money from an Access Bank account that had been placed on ‘Post No Debit’ Category, following the discovery of illicit cash flows into the account.
“She was intercepted by the bank while the Commission was notified but because it was late, the EFCC advised that the suspect be taken to the police station for processing and release on bail.
“They were arranging to take the suspect to the police station when Governor Ayo Fayose stormed the bank with thugs and his personal security and forcefully secured the release of the suspect, with claims that the EFCC had no power to detain anybody in his state.
“He also vowed to close down the branch of the bank.
“The said account, which had a balance of N 2,307,712.82 was flagged following investigation into the PDP Joint Trust fund when the Commission traced N1.1billion to the Zenith Bank account of Fani-Kayode.
“It was discovered that the account had two biometric identification numbers, one for Fani-Kayode and the other (with BVN 2205597283) with thugsfor Sonia Chikwendu.
“The same BVN is linked to two other accounts in Diamond bank and 15 accounts in Guaranty Trust Bank”.
Like Fayose, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State also stopped the arrest of a judge by the Department of State Services on 8 October in Port Harcourt, with the help of the Police commissioner in the state and his personal security details.