$15m fraud: Channels TV Yanks Incoherent Patience Jonathan Lawyer Off Air

$15m fraud: Channels TV Yanks Incoherent Patience Jonathan Lawyer Off Air

There was a mild drama on Friday as an interview feauturing Mr Charles Ogboli, a lawyer with the human rights watch was abruptly teminated by Channels Television over inconsistencies and misrepresentations. Ogboli, was asked by presenter Maupe Ogun from the Channels TV Abuja studios to give his view on the circumstances surrounding the freezing of the account of former first lady Patience Faka Jonathan by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) having been introduced as a human rights lawyer. He began by disagreeing with EFCC for placing a no-debit status of Jonathan’s account describing it as high handedness explaining that the companies which are linked to the accounts in question did not belong to the ex-first lady. He however contradicted himself by saying that she was the owner of the money even though fictitious names were allegedly used to open the accounts. This prompted the presenter and two others from the Lagos studio to grill him further on how he was privy to such sensitive information. He then revealed that he was very close to Patience Jonathan and went ahead to reel out further contradictons. This caused the programme editors to intermittently interrupt him in order to get some straight facts from him. Then in a bizarre twist, he attempted to justify the source of the Dollars in the account, saying that ex-president Jonathan had been a Deputy Governor, Governor, Vice President and then President, and as such ‘’he can even give his wife $20million to put in her business,’’ he said. The straw that broke the camel’s back was when the visibly embarrassed Channels TV presenters asked him if he was actually Patient Jonathan’s Representative and not a Human Rights lawyer as he claimed, to which he replied in the affirmative. After some more brief interruptions, he was taken off the air. Reacting to the interview, Nigerians on social media slammed Mr Charles Ogboli calling him a barefaced liar. A Facebook user, Uche Ezechukwu wrote, ‘’Who brought this man, Mr Charles Ogboli to a live television programme to make a fool of himself trying to plead Dame Patience's case in her matter with EFCC over seized money? If Mr Ogboli does not trust his own intelligence, he should not take other Nigerians as fools. The former First Lady should find more intelligent ways of explaining her case. This one on Sunrise na wash as Nigerians would say. Her image handlers should have informed her that a cardinal concept in image management is that "perception is the reality" Recall that four companies, Pluto Properties and Investment Company, Seagate Property Development Company, Trans Ocean Property and Investment Company Ltd, and Avalon Global Property Ltd, all of which allegedly have links with former First Lady, Dame Patient Jonathan, on Wednesday pleaded guilty to alleged $15 million fraud charge brought against them before a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos. Warpamo Dudafa, former Special Assistant on Domestic Affairs to the ex-president Jonathan and two others, Amajuoyi Briggs, a lawyer and Adedamola Bolodeoku, a banker, were also arraigned alongside the companies. They were arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on a 15 count charge of conspiracy and fraud. Mrs. Jonathan in her reaction faulted the authenticity of the representatives of the four companies who pleaded guilty to the charges. The former First Lady, through her media aide, Chima Osuji, alleged that EFCC presented four unknown people as representatives of the companies, all of who did not show letters authorising them by their respective boards to represent them in the case. Osuji stated: “This is a clear evidence of the desperation of the prosecution to pull down the former First Lady and confiscate her hard-earned money. “It is an irony as it was the former first lady who went to court for the repatriation of her confiscated money, when she realised that the EFCC and its co-travellers were playing politics with this issue, after she had come out publicly to say that the said money belongs to her and that she has all evidence to prove the sources of her money. ”Up till this very moment, EFCC has refused to interrogate or invite her for questioning.”