Court documents show that the 753 duplexes and other apartments recently recovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission have been linked to Godwin Emefiele, a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
An FCT High Court presided over by Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie, granted the EFCC the final forfeiture of the properties on Monday after the expiration of the initial interim order.
When our correspondent visited the court on Wednesday, he cited the documents but officials did not avail him a copy of the court’s ruling as he did not bring a formal letter of request.
The documents indicated that the application was filed ‘in rem’, which meant landed property of unknown nature, explaining why there was no respondent on the face of the motion, including the non-response to the 14-day public notice of interim forfeiture.
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However, similar documents shared on X by an activist, Omoyele Sowore, indicated that the assets were recovered from Emefiele and “his cronies.”
The EFCC had declared that the asset, spanning 150,500 square metres and situated on Plot 109, Cadastral Zone C09, Lokogoma District, Abuja, is its largest recovery since its inception.
The affidavit in support of the motion on notice deposed to by Idi Musa, an investigating officer with the EFCC, explained how operatives were detailed to investigate the damning intelligence report received “in respect of monumental fraudulent activities perpetrated by some senior officers of the Central Bank of Nigeria through which huge sums of money were fraudulently converted and transferred for personal use.”
He further averred that, “The commission whilst investigating the alleged monumental fraud carried out by the immediate past Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and his cronies traced and discovered several properties reasonably suspected to have been acquired and or developed with proceeds of unlawful activities.
“That the property highlighted in Schedule A to this application is one of the said properties recovered, having been reasonably suspected to have been acquired/ developed with proceeds of unlawful activities.
“That in the course of this investigation, it was revealed that the erstwhile CBN governor negotiated kickbacks in return for allocation of foreign exchange to some companies who were in desperate need of foreign exchange for their lawful and legitimate businesses.
“That our investigation equally revealed that the erstwhile CBN governor received kickbacks from some contractors who were awarded contracts by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
“That upon investigation, it was revealed that one Ifeanyi Omeke, a Deputy General Manager and Head, Litigation of Zenith Bank, Plc worked closely with Godwin Emefiele and ran several errands for him which included purchase and perfection of title documents for several properties located in highbrow areas of Lagos and Abuja.
“That upon a search conducted in the office premises of Mr Ifeanyi Collins Omeke by the operatives of the commission, several property title documents were recovered which investigation revealed were purchased with sums traced and reasonably believed to be proceeds of unlawful activities to wit; kickback from allocation of foreign exchange and award of contract.
“That upon conclusion of the investigation the commission applied to the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos to forfeit the properties located and situated in Lagos recovered from Mr Ifeanyi Collins Omeke, properties investigation revealed were purchased with sums traced and reasonably believed to be proceeds of unlawful activities.”
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