Why Fani-Kayode’s Wife Was Detained At Access Bank—EFCC

By Ebitonye Akpodigha

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has explained why the wife of former Minister of Aviation, Mr Femi Fani-Kayode, Precious, was delayed at the Ado-Ekiti branch of Access Bank on Monday.

Yesterday, officials of the bank ‘detained’ the woman when she attempted to make transactions on the account.

Mrs Fani-Kayode was reportedly in Ekiti to commemorate the second year in office of Governor Ayodele Fayose.

It was learnt that the said account had been placed on ‘Post No Debit’ category over an alleged illicit flow of fund into it.

In a statement issued by the Head of Media and Publicity at the EFCC, Mr Wilson Uwujaren, the commission denied putting Mrs Fani-Kayode and her eight-month-old child in its custody.

“Contrary to the media spin about the purported arrest of mother and child, a certain Chikwendu Sonia today (Monday) 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 N2,307,712.82 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) for Sonia Chikwendu.

“The same BVN is linked to two other accounts in Diamond Bank and 15 accounts in Guaranty Trust Bank,” Mr Uwujaren narrated in the statement.