By Anita
On Monday, October 24, 2022, Justice Mobolaji Olajuwon of the Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the final forfeiture to the Federal Government of two Abuja properties and two luxury cars belonging to a former minister of petroleum resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke.
The judge issued the order forfeiting the assets to the Federal Government of Nigeria while ruling on the application for final forfeiture of the assets filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in Suits No. 1122/2021 and Suit No. 1123/2021.
The Commission had secured the assets’ interim forfeiture on November 29, 2021, in a ruling on a separate motion ex-parte filed on September 27, 2021, in which it prayed the court to order the assets’ interim forfeiture on the grounds of reasonable suspicion that they were proceeds of unlawful activities.
In granting the interim forfeiture order, Justice Olajuwon directed that the EFCC publish a notice in a national newspaper inviting anyone with a stake in the assets to show cause why they should not be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria. As a result, the court adjourned until January 22, 2022, for a report. The Forfeiture Order was published in Thisday Newspaper on Wednesday, April 6, 2022, in accordance with the Court’s Order.
In the absence of any challenge to the Interim Order, the Court forfeited the properties to the Federal Government on October 24.
