A hotelier, Mr Iderima Igonikon, has said that the former first lady, Mrs Patience Jonathan, has no link with Igoni Grandview Hotel, as alleged by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
In a statement yesterday in Warri, Delta State, Igonikon said the records of the hotel were before the Corporate Affairs Commission, adding that the hotel had been in existence before Mrs Jonathan became a first lady in the country.
He enjoined the anti graft agency to double check its information before going public.
Director of the Hotel, Chief Igonikon said: “The attention of the hotel management was drawn to a recent newspaper publication listing property owned by Mrs Jonathan which includes one Grandview Hotel on Airport Road, Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Though it didn’t include Igoni in the nomenclature published but for the records and due to EFCC antecedents with me in the past, it becomes imperative to put the records straight. That if the property referred to in the publication is Igoni Grandview Hotel on Airport Road, Rukpoku, Port Harcourt, Mrs Jonathan is not the owner and has no link whatsoever to either the property or the business itself.
“The hotel is a subsidiary of Igoni Palace Hotel in Okrika which has been in existence before Mrs Jonathan became First Lady of Nigeria. And she has no financial transactions of any sort with the hotel as regards shareholding or investment interest.
“EFCC should investigate properly before making such publications. The hotel as a business was duly registered with Corporate Affairs Commission. They can go and investigate in CAC whether she is linked to the hotel or not, they can even go to the hotel’s bankers if there was any financial transaction linking her with the hotel.
“The EFCC should do a thorough job before causing people, especially business concerns embarrassment,” he added.
Vanguard
