Some Igbo youths took to the streets of Enugu yesterday in protest against the alleged "persecution" of Patience Jonathan by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Some bank accounts, reportedly belonging to the wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan had been frozen by the anti-graft agency.
The protesters, under the aegis of Concerned Igbo Youths, said Patience’s travail was an attempt to humiliate former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Brandishing placards and chanting solidarity songs, the group led by its coordinator, Victor Ezenagu, marched to the Enugu office of the EFCC, where they submitted a petition to the South-East zonal head of the commission, Mr. Johnson Babalola.
Some youths also protested in front of the Enugu State Government House.
In the petition entitled, ‘Unjust persecution and desperate plan to humiliate Goodluck Jonathan,’ the youths demanded an immediate unfreezing of Patience Jonathan’s accounts.
The petition read in part:
“While we salute the commitment of the present administration towards fighting corruption in the country, we express our disaffection to the manner the war is being prosecuted by the commission under your watch.
“Some of the actions of the commission in recent time leave no one in doubt that certain persons have clearly been singled out to be humiliated.
“A case in point is that of a former First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, who is currently being prosecuted by the EFCC. We see the freezing of her personal accounts and ongoing prosecution as an attempt to discredit former President Goodluck Jonathan.”
The youths said they were miffed that Jonathan was being victimised by the EFCC, even after sacrificing his ambition “for the sake of the country’s future.”
