{"id":424804,"date":"2017-10-03T19:00:19","date_gmt":"2017-10-03T19:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ghana-mma.com\/2017\/10\/03\/patience-jonathan-nigeria-ex-first-lady-decries-witch-hunt\/"},"modified":"2017-10-03T19:00:19","modified_gmt":"2017-10-03T19:00:19","slug":"patience-jonathan-nigeria-ex-first-lady-decries-witch-hunt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/10\/03\/patience-jonathan-nigeria-ex-first-lady-decries-witch-hunt\/","title":{"rendered":"Patience Jonathan: Nigeria ex-first lady decries &#8216;witch-hunt&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"story-body__introduction\">Nigeria\u2019s ex-First Lady Patience Jonathan has accused the government \u2018s anti-corruption agency of conducting an \u201cunjustified witch-hunt\u201d against her.<\/p>\n<p>The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was following a \u201csinister script to embarrass and browbeat\u201d her, she said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, the EFCC froze $15m (\u00a311.4m), which the ex-first lady said was to settle medical bills abroad.<\/p>\n<p>Her husband, Goodluck Jonathan, stepped down in 2015 after losing elections.<\/p>\n<p>He was widely praised for being the first incumbent to give up power voluntarily in Nigeria since its independence in 1961.<\/p>\n<p>His successor, Muhammadu Buhari, vowed to tackle corruption in the government.<\/p>\n<p>Mrs Jonathan said that unlike other former first ladies with pet projects seeking to help the less privileged, her NGOs were \u201cbeing subjected to indefinite probe and microscopic scrutiny by the Buhari administration\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>EFCC head Ibrahim Magu had linked her to all sort of \u201cfake possession and properties around the country\u201d, it added.<\/p>\n<p>The EFCC has not yet commented on her statement.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"story-body__crosshead\">Systematically persecuted<\/h2>\n<p>Mrs Jonathan\u2019s vehicles had been attacked on the road four times since 2015 and the couple\u2019s house in Abuja \u201cwas vandalised allegedly by security agents sent by government to secure it, and the items stolen are yet to be recovered\u201d, said a statement issued by her media aide and published in full by Nigeria\u2019s privately owned Vanguard newspaper.<\/p>\n<p>The statement urged President Buhari to order that the harassment should stop.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe believe that she is being systematically persecuted and punished because of her unflinching support for her husband during the 2015 elections,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n<p>In September, the Committee on Public Petitions in the lower parliamentary chamber, the House of Representatives, asked six banks to unfreeze her accounts, saying it had been done without a court order, local media reported at the time.<\/p>\n<p>The EFCC had ordered that the accounts be frozen as it investigated corruption allegations against her.<\/p>\n<p>Mrs Jonathan denies any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n<div class=\"bsac bsac-clearfix bsac-post-bottom bsac-float-center bsac-align-center bsac-column-1\">\n<div id=\"bsac-268370-660487698\" class=\"bsac-container bsac-type-image \" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/WPAdBlock\" data-adid=\"268370\" data-type=\"image\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"bsac-image\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/starrwoman_posts.jpg\" alt=\"Starr Woman \u2013 Inside Posts\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a style=\"display:none\" rel=\"follow\" href=\"http:\/\/megatheme.ir\/\" title=\"\u0642\u0627\u0644\u0628 \u0648\u0631\u062f\u067e\u0631\u0633\">\u0642\u0627\u0644\u0628 \u0648\u0631\u062f\u067e\u0631\u0633<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nigeria\u2019s ex-First Lady Patience Jonathan has accused the government \u2018s anti-corruption agency of conducting an \u201cunjustified witch-hunt\u201d against her. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was following a \u201csinister script to embarrass and browbeat\u201d her, she said in a statement. Last year, the EFCC froze $15m (\u00a311.4m), which the ex-first lady said was to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-424804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-world"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Patience Jonathan: Nigeria ex-first lady decries &#039;witch-hunt&#039; - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/10\/03\/patience-jonathan-nigeria-ex-first-lady-decries-witch-hunt\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Patience Jonathan: Nigeria ex-first lady decries &#039;witch-hunt&#039; - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Nigeria\u2019s ex-First Lady Patience Jonathan has accused the government \u2018s anti-corruption agency of conducting an \u201cunjustified witch-hunt\u201d against her. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was following a \u201csinister script to embarrass and browbeat\u201d her, she said in a statement. Last year, the EFCC froze $15m (\u00a311.4m), which the ex-first lady said was to [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/starrwoman_posts.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/03\\\/patience-jonathan-nigeria-ex-first-lady-decries-witch-hunt\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/03\\\/patience-jonathan-nigeria-ex-first-lady-decries-witch-hunt\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Patience Jonathan: Nigeria ex-first lady decries &#8216;witch-hunt&#8217;\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-10-03T19:00:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/03\\\/patience-jonathan-nigeria-ex-first-lady-decries-witch-hunt\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":326,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/03\\\/patience-jonathan-nigeria-ex-first-lady-decries-witch-hunt\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ghanamma.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/starrwoman_posts.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"World\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/03\\\/patience-jonathan-nigeria-ex-first-lady-decries-witch-hunt\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/03\\\/patience-jonathan-nigeria-ex-first-lady-decries-witch-hunt\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/03\\\/patience-jonathan-nigeria-ex-first-lady-decries-witch-hunt\\\/\",\"name\":\"Patience Jonathan: Nigeria ex-first lady decries 'witch-hunt' - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/03\\\/patience-jonathan-nigeria-ex-first-lady-decries-witch-hunt\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/03\\\/patience-jonathan-nigeria-ex-first-lady-decries-witch-hunt\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ghanamma.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/starrwoman_posts.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-10-03T19:00:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/03\\\/patience-jonathan-nigeria-ex-first-lady-decries-witch-hunt\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/03\\\/patience-jonathan-nigeria-ex-first-lady-decries-witch-hunt\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ghanamma.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/starrwoman_posts.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ghanamma.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/starrwoman_posts.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Patience Jonathan: Nigeria ex-first lady decries 'witch-hunt' - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/10\/03\/patience-jonathan-nigeria-ex-first-lady-decries-witch-hunt\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Patience Jonathan: Nigeria ex-first lady decries 'witch-hunt' - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"Nigeria\u2019s ex-First Lady Patience Jonathan has accused the government \u2018s anti-corruption agency of conducting an \u201cunjustified witch-hunt\u201d against her. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was following a \u201csinister script to embarrass and browbeat\u201d her, she said in a statement. 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