The Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions has directed some banks to unfreeze the accounts belonging to Patience Jonathan, the wife of Nigeria’s former president, Goodluck Jonathan.

The committee which is headed by Senator Samuel Anyanwu also subjected the management of the four banks where Mrs. Jonathan has accounts to release such accounts which were not encumbered by any legal process.

The committee noted that one of the banks, Stanbic IBTC did not breach any known law or due process as it froze her accounts based on purely administrative procedures and directed that the account which she  operates with Zenith Bank be re-opened as the court order for its freezing had been vacated.

The members of the committee further expressed dissatisfaction with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)  over the agency’s arbitrary manner of using banks to close or freeze accounts of some individuals under investigation without adherence to due process or law.

The executives of the affected banks having listened to the committee, informed the lawmakers that the court order vacating the earlier ones relied upon by the EFCC were not made available to them and consequently promised to re-open the accounts having been served with the vacation order.