Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Abuja has dismissed an application filed by former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele to reclaim a forfeited property comprising 753 duplexes and apartments in the nation’s capital.
The estate is a 150,462.84 square meter property located in the Lokogoma District of Abuja.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had obtained a court injunction to permanently forfeit the property to the Federal Government.
The EFCC on Monday, December 2, announced the recovery of what it described as the “largest ever” seized assets but withheld the name of the person linked to the property.
Emefiele, through his lawyer, A.M. Kotoye, a senior advocate, later filed a motion as an interested party.
The former CBN chief applied for an extension of time to enable him to request that the court vacate the forfeiture order.
Emefiele claimed he was not aware of the forfeiture process and accused the EFCC of publishing the notice in a hidden part of a newspaper, preventing him from responding on time.
He further alleged that his ongoing trials in multiple courts made it hard for him to know about the publication and accused the EFCC of intentionally hiding the forfeiture proceedings from him.
The court headed by Jude Onwuegbuzie on Monday, April 28, ruled that Emefiele had sufficient opportunity to contest the forfeiture but didn’t act within the legally-permissible timeframe.
Onwuegbuzie rejected Emefiele’s claim that the publication was obscure and held that he wasn’t entitled to relief. He consequently dismissed his motion and ruled in favour of the EFCC.
