Despite the United State government
saying that it had no fraud information against the wife of President
Muhammadu Buhari, the Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, has
insisted that the wife of the President was mentioned in the Halliburton
scandal.
Reacting to the freezing of his Zenith
Bank account by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Fayose,
last week, alleged that Aisha was involved in the scandal.
He said, “There was a judgment against
the wife of the President, where she wired $170,000 to Jefferson that
was convicted in the Halliburton scandal. If she wants to deny that, we
will publish it in the newspapers,” he had said.
Slighted by the statement, the
President’s wife, through her counsel, Mary Ekpere & Co., had
written a letter dated June 22, 2016, to the governor demanding a
retraction of the statement. She threatened a legal action if the
retraction was not made within five days.
The acting Public Affairs Officer, United States Consulate General, Lagos, Frank Sellin, had also told The PUNCH that the US had no information to provide on the matter.
Speaking through his lawyer, Chief Mike
Ozekhome (SAN), on Wednesday, Fayose insisted that the President’s wife
was mentioned in the Halliburton scandal.
In a letter to the President’s wife
dated July 8, Fayose affirmed that the statement made regarding her
alleged involvement was “correct and justified in law,” having been
factually premised on an existing court judgment.
The letter read, “Our client has
referred to us your letter dated 22nd June, 2016, on alleged defamation
of the character of your client, Her Excellency, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, the
wife of Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, with firm instructions to reply to and
reject same in its entirety.
“Our client states and reaffirms
categorically that the statement he made as regards the involvement of
Mrs. Aisha Buhari, the wife of President Buhari, in the Halliburton
scandal, is correct and justified in law, having regards to a court
judgment convicting one Mr. William Jefferson for bribery in the
Halliburton case.
“Therein, the name of the President’s
wife featured conspicuously. At page 22 of the said judgment delivered
by the United State District Court, Eastern District of Virginia,
Alexandria Division, USA, in criminal case No 1: 07CR209, the said Mr.
William Jefferson was sentenced at 9.00 am on November 13, 2009, by Mark
D. Lytle. Your client, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, was specifically mentioned in
the judgment.”
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