"Face Me Like A Man, Not My Wife", Fani Kayode Dares Buhari

The wife of former Minister of Aviation, Mrs Precious Fani- Kayode was detained briefly by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission yesterday in Ado-Ekiti. Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State and Mrs Fani-Kayode after her release. 

Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State and Mrs Fani-Kayode after her release. However, spokesman for EFCC, Mr Wilson Uwujaren told Vanguard; 

“ There was no detention. She was held by security as she attempted to withdraw money from an account which had been placed on post no debit as proceeds of crime had been traced to it.” Precious, who was in Ado-Ekiti together with her husband as guests of Governor Ayodele Fayose, had gone to Access Bank branch in Ado Ekiti around 3 p.m for transactions when she was detained by officials of the bank acting on orders of the EFCC. 

She was with her eight month old baby. Vanguard gathered she got a feeling that something strange was going on when she was not being promptly attended to, she inquired from officials what the problem was and was told she was being detained on the instruction of the EFCC. It was then it dawned on the nursing mother, who came to the banking hall with her eight month old baby that she had to call for help. 

It took the intervention of Governor Fayose who stormed the bank with some of his supporters around 7 pm to secure her release. Speaking with newsmen shortly after the incident, Mrs. Fani-Kayode, lamented that she was badly treated by the officials while her baby was denied food. “I’m not a politician and that account had been dormant for about five years. 

I only activated it last month in Port Harcourt. “I decided to go to Access Bank to make some withdrawals when I was detained on the instruction of the EFCC. “They told me account had been frozen and they were asked by the EFCC to arrest me on the spot. ”I have been operating the account since 2005 when I was a student in the university. They had earlier frozen my two banks, which they have not opened till today and I have been waiting for them to invite me up till today they have not. 

“The balance in the account is just N200,000, so I don’t know what their interest is. I’m a private person, I have not received any political fund, so why are they trying to starve my family? That account has nothing to with politics. 

This is dehumanising. I had to call the governor to inform him of the development,” she said. Fayose, who condemned the action of the EFCC and the attitude of the bank officials, warned the anti-graft agency against lawlessness and reckless behaviour against Nigerians. 

“They can’t try that nonsense in my state. If they try it it will be a showdown. They 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. “Must they terrorise people because they are in opposition? I have demanded an apology from the bank if they fail to do that I’m done with them. This is lawlessness.” 

In a statement made available to newsmen by Femi Fani-Kayode late last night, he urged the government to leave his family members alone and face him. The PDP chieftain said,”This govt is sick and cowardly and so are the EFCC. If you have a problem with me face me and leave my family alone. “My wife travelled to Ado Ekiti to see my friend and brother Governor Fayose and his family. 

“They were on their way out of town when they went to Access Bank in Ado Ekiti to get some money. 

‘They were illegally detained, brutalised and put under arrest on the orders of the EFCC at a bank in Ado Ekiti today. “She has never had any business with me, she has never been formally invited by the EFCC or asked any questions about her transactions and neither have they written to her on any issue even though they are always sending letters to my house and sending people there. 

“If Buhari wants to deal with me, why doesnt he face me like a man instead of trying to harm and hurt my eight-month-old son and wife. “Had it not been for the intervention of Governor Ayo Fayose, they would have taken them away and subjected them to all manner of harm and indignities simply because she is married to me.” 

“This is Buhari’s Nigeria and we will resist his tyranny.” Fani-Kayode said he intended to sue the bank and the EFCC for this “illegal and wicked action.” 

“They have no right to do this. If they want to see my wife all they need to do is to invite her. We have nothing to fear. They do not need to be so primitive and barbaric to people.”