A human Righ Lawyer and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Mike Ozekhome’s bank account containing N75 million has been frozen by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, alleging the money is a proceed of a bribe involving Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State.
Mr.Ozekhome, in a swift reaction yesterday, said the N75 million in his GTB account was not a proceed of crime as alleged by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission but his legal fee for work done for Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State.
The anti-graft agency had earlier in the day secured a judgement through a motion ex-parte from a Federal High Court, Lagos court freezing the account.
Arguing the ex-parte application, EFCC’s lawyer, Idris Abdulahi Mohammed, while asking for a 120-day freezing of the said account to allow for thorough investigation on it, informed the court that the motion was brought pursuant to Section 29 of the EFCC Act.
Attached to the application were three exhibits marked 01, 02 and 03 along with an affidavit of urgency sworn to by an officer of the agency, Tosin Owobo. Justice Anka while granting the request disclosed that any party that is not satisfied with the ruling can go on appeal.
Reacting to the judgement, Ozekhome however stated such move was an invidious lie from the pit of hell. “For the records, the N75 million was paid into my account by my client, Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State, as part payment of Professional Fees for the numerous cases my chambers is currently handling for him (in his personal capacity) and his aides across Nigeria.
The money is neither “suspected proceeds of crime’’ nor of money laundering.
“On the 13th day of December, 2016, I defeated the EFCC in a judgment delivered by the Honourable Justice Taiwo O Taiwo, sitting at the Federal High Court, Ado Ekiti. In his judgment dated 13th December, 2016, the court ordered the EFCC to immediately defreeze two accounts belonging to Governor Fayose and domiciled with Zenith Bank Plc, which accounts EFCC had, illegally , unconstitutionally, an in a most uncouth and cavalier manner frozen and blocked in Zenith Bank Plc.
The court described the action of the EFCC as ‘’illegal, wrongful, unconstitutional and unlawful’’. Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo, the same lawyer who was said to have obtained the ex-parte order blocking my account from Honourable Justice Abdulazeez Anka, is the very counsel for the EFCC in the case I won for Governor Fayose before the Federal High Court, Ado Ekiti.
