Patience Jonathan visits Skye Bank after court un-freezed her $5.8 million

Former first lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, was on Monday sighted at the Maitama branch of Skye Bank in Abuja.

Mrs. Jonathan’s visit to the bank may not be unconnected with a court decision last week to unfreeze her account at the bank.

The Federal High Court in Lagos on Thursday directed that the freeze order on the account be cancelled. The account is believed to contain about $5.8 million (about N1.8 billion).

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, had in November 2016 filed an application before the court, seeking an order freezing the account.

The commission had contended that the funds were reasonably suspected to be proceeds of crime. The court granted the order but reversed it last Thursday.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the former first lady was at the Skye Bank branch on Monday until 4:05 p.m. when she departed. She declined to speak to reporters who sought to know why she was at the bank.

A source, however, told NAN that while at the bank, Mrs Jonathan briefly met an Executive Director of the bank.

One of her aides, who declined to disclose his name, told journalists that “everything was okay.”