The operation, which was carried out by operatives of the Special Investigation Panel, headed by a retired Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Ali Amodu, acted at the behest of the Federal Government Asset Recovery and Forfeiture Committee. According to the sources, an informant had tipped the Federal Government about alleged huge stolen cash hidden in the building and in three other different locations in the Federal Capital Territory. Punch reports that the informant, who told the government about the cash in the Maitama property, had hinted that the suspect planned to move the money anytime. Following the intelligence report, the SIP operatives stormed the duplex on Wednesday, but did not find any cash. A source explained that the police did not know that the building belonged to Jonathan until she identified herself as a former First Lady to the team leader, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Adebo Williams, on the telephone. The source was quoted by Punch as stating… “At the house, the security men said the house belonged to one Jaga, a Rivers State indigene, and the team leader was directed to call the owner. “The security man gave the phone to the team leader and she identified herself as former First Lady. “She spoke in pidgin English and told the operatives to go and take whatever they kept in the house. The team leader advised her to send her lawyer and she did. The house was searched in the lawyer’s presence.” It was gathered that the team discovered that the first of the twin duplex had not been inhabited for a long time. The men, it was learnt, found some company documents, three Diamond bank accounts cheque leaves, which were taken away for further investigations. A source said, “The second duplex was also filled with cobwebs and contained four big security safes. All the four security safes were met opened and in clean condition, indicating that they have been in use. A senior officer stated that a bulletproof Porsche jeep and a BMW car were found locked up in the garage. In his reaction, Patience Jonathan’s lawyer, Mr. Charles Ogboli, described the allegations by the police that they had information of huge foreign currencies deposited in the house as unfounded. He argued that the raid was a malicious persecution of the former first lady, adding that there was no huge safe in the family house. He explained that the search conducted on Mrs. Jonathan’s house without her presence meant that the police intended to do something else other than searching the building. ]]>