The wife of a former Minister of Aviation, Mrs. Precious Fani-Kayode, was yesterday held hostage in a bank in Ado Ekiti.
Mrs Fani-Kayode, it was gathered, was a guest of Governor Ayodele Fayose and had gone to Ado Ekiti branch of Access Bank around 3 pm for transactions when she was detained by officials of the bank.
A source said she had inquired from the bank officials why she was not being promptly attended to and was told she was being detained on the instruction of the Economic and Finacial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Precious, who had her eight-month-old baby with her at the time, was prevented from leaving the banking hall thereafter.
Our correspondent gathered that Governor Fayose had to go to the bank around 7 pm with some of his supporters to secure her release.
Speaking with journalists, Mrs. Fani-Kayode lamented that she was badly treated by the officials while her baby was denied food.
She said, “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 my 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 bank accounts which they have not opened till today and I have been waiting for them to invite me but 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? I had to call the governor to inform him of the development.”
Condemning the action of the EFCC and the attitude of the bank officials, Fayose warned the anti-graft agency against ‘lawlessness and reckless behaviour’ against Nigerians.
He said, “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 terrorize people because the people 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.”
Femi Fani-Kayode, in a telephone interview with journalists, told the government to leave his family members alone and face him.
“This government is sick and cowardly and so is the EFCC. If you have a problem with me, face me and leave my family alone,” he said.
