There is a high degree of uneasiness among some top government officials in Kogi State as a Federal High Court in Lagos granted an order of interim forfeiture of 14 properties and firms in Lagos, Abuja, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) allegedly linked to them.
Justice Nicholas Oweibo granted the order yesterday sequel to an ex parte motion filed and argued by counsel for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo.
Justice Oweibo also authorised the EFCC to confiscate N400 million recovered from one Aminu Falala in connection with the alleged fraud.
Oyedepo told the judge that the application followed the EFCC’s probe of “damning intelligence of monumental fraud allegedly perpetrated by some principal officers of Kogi State Government and their cronies.”
The EFCC counsel alleged that through the fraud huge sums of money belonging to the Kogi State Government were fraudulently converted and used for either outright acquisition of properties or renovation of the already existing but dilapidated buildings within and outside Nigeria.
The senior lawyer further stated that the properties, including the one in the world’s tallest building Burj Khalifa in Dubai, UAE, were reasonably suspected to have been derived from unlawful activity.
He also said one of the properties located at 9, Benghazi Street, Wuse Zone 4, Abuja was re-developed and furnished with N310, 443,450.00.
The judge directed the (EFCC) to publish the order in a national newspaper within 14 days for any interested party to show cause why the forfeiture order should not be made permanent.
He adjourned till March 28 for a report on compliance with the order.
The EFCC’s motion ex-parte dated February 17, 2023, sought a “preservation order of properties reasonably suspected to have been derived from unlawful activity pursuant to sections 9 and 10 of the Proceeds of Crime (Recovery and Management) Act, 2022 and Section 44(2)B of the 1999 Constitution.
The 14 properties affected by the order include Plot No. 1160, within Cadastral Zone CO3, Gwarimpa II District, Abuja; No. 2, Justice Chukwudifu Oputa Street, Asokoro Abuja; Block ‘D’, Manzini Street, Wuse Zone 4 Abuja; Plot A 02/176 Block 488B, Lome Street, Wuse 1, Abuja; Fair Plus International Limited at No. 2 Kubwa Resettlement Area Cadastral Zone E1, Abuja; Fair Plus International Limited, at No 41 Ikorodu Road, Jibowu, Mushin, Lagos State; Fair Plus International Limited at No. 2 Bisi Odunsanya Street, Agege Motor Road, Agege Lagos State; Plot No. 1773 Guzape District, Abuja; and No B13 Citiscape-Shariff Plaza, lying, being and situate at plot 739 Aminu Kano Crescent, Wuse 2 Abuja.
The UAE property is Hotel Apartment Community: Burj Khalifa, Plot 160 Municipality NO 345-7562, Sky View Building No 1, Property No 401, Floor 4, Dubai U.A.E.
Others include Plot No. 2934A, Cadastral Zone A06, also known as, No. 1 Ikogosi Spring Close, Maitama District, Abuja; Plot No. 1058, measuring about 1450.77sqm in Cadastral Zone AO8, Wuse 2, also known as No. 2 Durban Street, Abuja; Plot No. 1981, Maitama District, also known as No. 6 Dala Hills, Abuja and the sum of N400million allegedly recovered from Falala.
Oyedepo backed the motion ex-parte application with an affidavit deposed to by an EFCC officer, Adekunbi Mojibola, who was part of the team that investigated the case.
Mojibola averred that the Kogi State government opened account number 1010662710 with Zenith Bank Plc named Kogi State Government House Admin.
She averred in her affidavit that the owner of the account between February 2016 and September 3, 2021, procured one Abdulsalam Hudu to make cash withdrawals of N46,039,579,919.38 (billion) from the account.
The deponent claimed that one “Comfort Olufunke was equally procured to make a cash withdrawal of N2, 402,533,621.00 (billion) from the same account between March 23, 2016 and April 30, 2018.
She claimed that Hudu, between August 6 and September 29, 2019 “whilst fraudulently working in concert with his syndicate withdrew in cash the total sum of N612,650,000 (million) from an account known as Kogi State House Administration (operation) with account number 0793190623 domiciled in Access Bank.
She averred that between February 2016 and October 22, 2021, “Hudu in a desperate bid to conceal the proceeds of the several unlawful activities whilst working in concert with other principal officers of the state, made a cash withdrawal of N34, 206,890,170.50 from the account known as Government House Admin Lokoja with account number 1003889575 domiciled in United Bank for Africa (UBA Plc).
The deponent further claimed that “a peep into the registers has revealed that about N7, 900,000,000 from the cash withdrawals made by Hudu and his cronies from the account of Kogi State Government were concealed in the care and custody of Murtala Maigari and his associates.”
Meanwhile, the state government has faulted the EFCC describing the forfeiture as a “desperate concoction of confused unintelligent officials” and the EFCC as “Nigeria’s corruption headquarters headed by convicted chairman.”
The commissioner of information and communications, Mr. Kingsley Fanwo, said in a statement that Bawa’s mandate at the EFCC is to bring down perceived enemies of those who planted him there at the expense of the nation’s integrity.
“The fact that the EFCC could send out a press statement, titled, ‘Court orders interim forfeiture of 14 properties linked to Kogi State Government,” showed clearly that uninformed minds had been picked to oversee the affairs of an agency as important as the EFCC,” Fanwo said.
He said the state has no property that can be forfeited to the federal government under any guise, adding, “it is a campaign of calumny taken too far.”
Fanwo noted that it was clear that the EFCC had declared a tactless open war against the state government owing mainly to the unwavering loyalty the state governor, Mr. Yahaya Bello, has for the All Progressives Congress and not individuals.
“Nigerians, and indeed, the international community are not as ignorant as the convicted Bawa and his sponsors.
“They know, with the different onslaughts against the Kogi government, and its officials, that this is clear persecution by a desperate and power-drunk EFCC.
“In due course, Nigerians will confirm that the EFCC, under Bawa, is the capital of corruption amongst agencies in Nigeria,” the commissioner said.
He added: “We want to state clearly here that, from what we have read in the media, not one we witnessed, this is a forfeiture proceeding and the order is an order of interim forfeiture, which gives persons who allegedly own the properties rights to come to court to establish their ownership of the said properties. We will follow through with the courts.
“We advise the public to ignore Bawa’s EFCC’s latest naked dance in the market square as the desperate last kicks of a dying horse,” the statement added.
