Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti state has made an allegation against the first lady of Niigeria, Aisha Buhari.
The governor has urged President Muhammadu Buhari not to see himself
as a saint, alleging that his wife, Aisha’s alleged involvement in the
Jefferson’s Halliburton Scandal in United States under ex-President
Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration has not been forgotten.
Fayose said: “Mrs Buhari was accused of wiring $170,000 to
Jefferson’s account and the man has been convicted. So Buhari and APC
should not see themselves as saint.”
This is coming following the freezing of the governors personal account by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The commission has debunked Fayose’s claim of immunity as a governor,
stating that it has a right to investigate whomever it deemed
suspicious.
The anti-graft agency has also given reasons for freezing the governors account.
Mr. Fayose distributed a link to the U.S. Department of Justice Web site
holding court documents where Mrs. Buhari was alleged to have
transferred suspicious funds to a convicted former American congressman,
Williams Jefferson.
In a statement signed by his Chief Press
Secretary, Idowu Adelusi, Mr. Fayose said President Buhari was far from
being a clean man.
“Even the President cannot claim to be an angel,”
the governor said, in reaction to the freezing of his Zenith Bank
account by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
“The estate
he built in Abuja is known to us. His wife was indicted over the
Halliburton Scandal (sic). When that American, Jefferson, was being
sentenced, the President’s wife was mentioned as having wired $170,000
to Jefferson. Her name was on page 25 of the sentencing of Jefferson. We
can serialize the judgment for people to see and read.”
The
governor’s Special Assistant on New Media, Lere Olayinka, later
circulated links to and copies of the court document detailing Mrs
Buhari’s mention in the scandal.
The documents showed that in some of
the exhibits tendered in convicting Mr. Jefferson of bribery, a Mrs.
Buhari was mentioned as transferring $170,000 to the American politician
using a firm as proxy.
“Government Exhibits 36-87 (6/26/02 $170,000
wire transfer from account in Nigeria in the name of Aisha Buhari to an
account in the name of The ANJ Group, LLC, identifying “William
Jefferson” as Beneficiary),” the U.S. Government Sentencing Memorandum
said on page 22.

Mrs. Buhari could not be reached for
comments. And Presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, declined comments,
saying he would need to check the documents himself before issuing an
official statement.
Mr. Fayose’s comment sparked a recollection of
how Mr. Jefferson, between 2000 and 2005, used his position as member of
the U.S. House of Representatives to offer illegal services to private
companies for cash rewards.
Mr. Jefferson and his family, according
to U.S. authorities, received about $367,500 through through his firm,
ANJ Group, for services rendered to iGate, an American broadband
technology provider.
An indigenous firm, Netlink Digital Television,
had signed a joint venture with iGate to set up digital satellite TV and
broadband Internet services in the country. NDTV was owned by Oyewole
Fasawe, a PDP chieftain at the time.
Mr. Jefferson was contracted to help promote iGate and NDTV partnership in Nigeria.
Following a lengthy trial, Mr. Jefferson was convicted in 2009 and sentenced to 13 years in prison.
Although Mr. Fasawe was arrested in 2005 by the EFCC, he was never convicted.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar were also said to be a person of interest in the allegations.
A
report released by the EFCC on June 22, 2006 about the bribery scandal
indicated that the commission investigated accounts held by Mrs. Buhari,
including one she had with Citizens Bank.
A 2007 New York Times’
article detailed how Mrs. Buhari told an acquaintance in Washington that
she was a daughter of a former Nigerian head of state and a friend of
Mr. Jefferson.
“As the pair struck up a conversation and subsequently
became friends, Mr. Assiba, then a security guard, said she told him
that her father was the former military ruler of Nigeria, Gen. Muhammadu
Buhari, and that her American friends included politicians like Mr.
Jefferson of Louisiana.”