The sums of $4,719,054 and N830,875,611, as well as a number of properties connected to the troubled former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, have been ordered to be forfeited in the interim by a Federal High Court located in Ikoyi, Lagos.
In line with Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Fraud Related Offence Act. 14 2006, Section 44(2)(b) of the Constitution, and the court’s inherent authority, the EFCC had petitioned the court for an interim seizure of the funds and properties.
Judge Yellim Bogoro ordered the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria to surrender his possessions on Thursday after an ex parte argument by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), solicitors Bilkisu Buhari and C.C. Chineye.
The properties that Emefiele forfeited to the Federal Government include: 94 units of an 11-story building under construction at 2, Otunba Elegushi 2nd Avenue (Formerly Club) Road, Ikoyi, Lagos; AM Plaza, an 11-story office building located on 1E, Otunba Adedoyin Crescent, Lekki Peninsula Scheme 1, Lagos; Imore Industrial Park 1, Esa Street, Imoore Land purchased with Deep Bive Industrial Town, Oriade LCDA, Amuwo Odofin LGA, Lagos; Mitrewood and Tatler Warehouse (Furniture Plant at Bogije) near
The others are a 1,038.069 sqm plot at Lekki Foreshore Estate Scheme, Block A, Plot 4, Foreshore Estate, Eti-Osa, LGA; an estate owned by Lipam Investment Services at 100, Cottonwood Coppel Texas Drive, Coppel, Texas; a piece of land at 1, Bunmi Owulude Street, (Maruwa), Lekki Phase 1, Lagos; and a property at 8, Bayo Kuku Road, Ikoyi, Lagos.
The anti-graft agency also requested an interim order from the court that would forfeit to the Federal Government of Nigeria any funds that were stored in the accounts listed in Schedule “A,” which the agency believed to be the profits of illegal activity.
“An interim order forfeiting properties listed in 2nd Schedule ‘B,’ which are the proceeds of illicit activities, to the Federal Government of Nigeria.”