Former
Minister of State for Defence,Mr. Musiliu Obanikoro, yesterday told the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to resist the temptation of
‘persecuting’ his wife, Moroophat,who was quizzed by the anti-graft
agency on Thursday.
He
called her “an innocent woman who has no dealings at all with any of the
businesses that they are investigating and totally unaware of the alleged
transactions.”
The
self-exiled politician, who was reacting to media reports on his wife’s
encounter with the EFCC, said she suffers from high blood pressure and other
heart ailments.
He
deplored the media reports which he branded as saddening.
He
said: “We are saddened by the fact that the media was awash with false and
conflicting information about the invitation of Senator Obanikoro’s wife.
“Ordinarily,
we considered ignoring these concocted lies, but for the sake of discerning and
right thinking public, hence the need to straighten matters.
“First,
Alhaja Moroophat has always been in the country, managing her businesses as
against the lie that she sneaked in last week from the United States.
“Second,
no documents were found in her possession and the lie that she was arrested,
while trying to evacuate documents is a fabrication and can only survive in
their warped and distorted minds.
It should also be noted that the officials
only came to invite her for questioning and as against the phrase that she was
whisked away, her driver actually drove her in her own car to the office of the
DSS.
“Third,
it was shamefully reported that the DSS were involved because there were so
many armed policemen guiding her. This is another fabricated lie. Even when he
was serving as minister, his family never enjoyed any police protection let
alone after leaving office and as a woman who is above board in all her
dealings, she does not need one.
“Finally,
we are using this medium to call on the officials of the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission to resist from persecuting an innocent woman who has no
dealings at all with any of the businesses that they are investigating and
totally unaware of the alleged transactions.
“For
emphasis, the innocent woman has a history of high blood pressure and heart
related ailments and as such should not be dragged into their biased and
politicised investigations.
“We
have absolute confidence in the judiciary and we hope to get justice in the
course with the proviso that they obey the rule of law and avoid arbitrariness
that we are seeing on daily basis.”
Obanikoro
and his two sons are wanted by the EFCC in connection with cash disbursement by
the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) during the Goodluck Jonathan
administration.
Tags
Society