Former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, will forfeit seven landed properties, $2.45 million, and share certificates to the Federal Government, the Supreme Court held on Friday.
The decision was taken by a five-member panel led by Justice Ibrahim Saulawa, which vacated the judgment of the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal, which had denied the FG the right to take over the listed assets.
The appellate court had reversed a verdict of the Federal High Court in Lagos, which had ordered the final forfeiture of the assets on the grounds that they were reasonably suspected to have been acquired with proceeds of unlawful activities.
The high court, in the judgment that Justice D.I. Dipeolu delivered on November 1, 2024, issued the final forfeiture order following a suit marked FHC/L/MISC/500/24, which was filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
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The anti-graft agency predicated the suit on the provisions of Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006, and Section 44(2)(b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).
The forfeiture application was supported by an affidavit deposed to by David Jayeoba, an investigating officer with the EFCC.
The items included: A fully detached duplex of identical structures situated at No. 17B Hakeem Odumosu Street, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos;
An undeveloped parcel of land measuring 1,919.592 square metres, covered by Survey Plan No. DS/LS/340, situated at Oyinkan Abayomi Drive (formerly Queens Drive), Ikoyi, Lagos;
A bungalow situated at No. 65A Oyinkan Abayomi Drive (formerly Queens Drive), Ikoyi, Lagos;
A four-bedroom duplex situated at 12A Probyn Road, Ikoyi, Lagos;
An industrial complex under construction on 22 plots of land in Agbor, Delta State;
Eight units of undetached apartments on a plot measuring 2,457.60 square metres, situated at No. 8A Adekunle Lawal Road, Ikoyi, Lagos;
A full duplex, together with all its appurtenances, on a plot measuring 2,217.87 square metres, situated at 2A Bank Road, Ikoyi, Lagos.
Emefiele is still facing multiple charges in different courts.