EFCC Claims They Never detain Mrs. Fani-Kayode

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, the commission has said.

The clarification follows claims by the former minister that his wife and eight-month-old baby were arrested at an Edo-Ekiti branch of a bank and detained by EFCC operatives as she went there to withdraw some money.

Head of Media and Publicity of EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, said, “Contrary to the media spin about the purported arrest of mother and child, a certain Chikwendu Sonia 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.


Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State and Mrs Fani-Kayode after her release.
” 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 has 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 N 2,307,712.82 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.