Gov. Ayo Fayose had to break free Sonia Chikwendu and her baby on Monday from an Access Bank’s branch in Ekiti where the bank’s security refused to let her go after trying to withdraw from an account with a Post-No-Debit order.
Her husband Femi Fani-Kayode is facing charges levelled by the EFCC which froze no fewer than 17 accounts where the commission believed he funnelled over N1 billion he got from an arms fund the PDP shunted to its presidential campaign last year.
The former aviation minister and PDP campaign media handler, however, said President Muhammadu Buhari has set the agency on him for criticising the APC government.
“In an attempt to starve and harass me and my family all my accounts and wife’s accounts have been frozen,” Fani-Kayode said.
According to him, the account belongs to his wife, and there is not much money in it because it has been dormant since 2013
“This was an account that has 200,000 naira in it and that has never had more than 500,000.”
But the EFCC, late Monday evening, said the account has over N2 million, and the story making the rounds that the commission detained Chikwendu and her baby was exaggerated.
“The wife of Femi Fani-Kayode and her child are not in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, and were never detained by the Commission,” a press release stated.
“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.”
But before that could happen, Fayose, along with men suspected to be thugs, broke into the bank’s premises, and forced her release.
The governor insisted the commission can arrest anybody in Ekiti, and he threatened to deal with the bank.
“They can’t try that nonsense in my state. If they try it, there will be a showdown,” the governor said.
“They are over-stepping their boundary. This is a country that operates a constitution. What kind of molestation is this, taking away the rights of Nigerians because you are investigating?”
Chikwendu, in an interview after the incident, said she has never received any political fund from anybody, and wouldn’t understand why they are trying to starve her family.
“That account has nothing to do with politics. This is dehumanising. I had to call the governor to inform him of the development.”
The EFCC said the account had two biometric identification numbers, one for Fani-Kayode and the other (with BVN 2205597283)for Sonia Chikwendu.
“The same BVN is linked to 2 other accounts in Diamond bank and 15 accounts in Guaranty Trust Bank.”