The youths under the auspices of Coalition of Yoruba Youths carried banners with bold inscriptions such as: “EFCC is not a Court, stop the harassment of Mama Peace, EFCC, stop Jungle Justice, Stop Media Trial, condemned the Commission for pursuing allegations that were not only laughable but lacked substance against the former First Lady. The protesters, who later delivered a petition titled, ‘EFCC should stop this brigandage against Dame Patient Jonathan,’ however, called for an unbiased investigation and not what they termed media trial. This was just as they insisted that the former First Lady did not engage in fraudulent or corrupt practices as she was being portrayed by the commission and some vested interest in the government of President Muhammadu Buhari. In a petition written to the acting Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, and signed by Prince Usman Oyekan, the group warned against what it called “sinister plot” by the Commission to rope the former First Lady, in a case it said the EFCC was both the complainant and jury. It was received on behalf of the commission by Mohammad Issa Rabo, Head of Economic Governance of the EFCC in Lagos. The group, in the petition, which was It was received on behalf of the commission by Mohammad Issa Rabo, Head of Economic Governance of the EFCC in Lagos, urged the EFCC to stop its persecution of Mrs. Jonathan, saying the former First Lady was being investigated on trumped up charges. The coalition, while saying that it undertook the protest to draw the attention of Nigerians and the international community, most especially the government of the United States and that of United kingdom to the growing politics of intolerance, intimidation, coercion, persecution, media trial by the administration of President Buhari using the EFCC as a tool, described allegations of corruption against Mrs. Jonathan was orchestrated to “silence her for self-serving purposes.” The petition read, “EFCC’s pretention to objectivity in its allegations against dame Patience Jonathan does not deceive anyone. The facts of the allegations are that EFCC is part and parcel of an elaborate political scheme to silence Dame Patience Jonathan for self- serving purposes. This is clearly partisan. “We have noticed with utmost consternation several published reports from EFCC and some partisan media targeted at Dame Patience. The latest of the several phases of this orchestrated campaign of calumny against Dame Patience Jonathan is the daily misinformation of the public that various sums of money in foreign denominations are being traced to bank accounts contrary to the true picture of what really is the fact of the whole issue. “For the sake of records, Dame Patience Jonathan does not engage in fraudulent or corrupt practices as she is being portrayed by some individuals with vested interest in the President Buhari’s government. “The statement and allegations by the EFCC against Dame Patience are not only laughable but they also lack substance and can easily be dismissed as another futile attempt to blackmail and cast aspersions on Dame Patience because on this issue, the EFCC are both the complainant and the jury. “We wish to inform Nigerians particularly all peace loving and fact seeking ones that there is no legal precedence for the charade that the EFCC is currently embarking upon against Dame Patience. “We believe the EFCC should be a professional agency of government that would do its job diligently without pandering to a section of the media, political actors or some pseudo civil society organizations. The EFCC should be reminded that, it is only a competent court of law that could pronounce anybody as being corrupt.” The group, therefore, urged the anti-graft agency to exercise caution in order not to portray the current government of President Buhari as a military junta that was not founded on constitutional pillars. Speaking after receiving the petition, the EFCC official, Rabo, assured that the petition would be forwarded to the acting Executive Chairman, Magu, saying investigation was still on in the case involving Mrs. Jonathan. ]]>