Joseph Bakare
Justice A.O. Owoeye of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, on Tuesday, January 21, 2025, ordered the final forfeiture of a property, a u-shaped two-storey building in Lagos,to the federal Government of Nigeria.
The property is situated in the premises of Goodwill Private Schools, Ikorodu, Lagos State.
The judge gave the order, following a motion ex- parte dated January 8, 2025 and filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, through its counsel, Hannatu KofarNaisa.
The court had, on November 8, 2024, granted an interim forfeiture order of the property and also directed the publication of the same in a national newspaper for any interested party to show cause why the property should not be finally forfeited to the Federal Government.
Moving the motion for the final forfeiture order at Tuesday’s sitting, counsel to the EFCC told the court that the property was reasonably suspected to have been acquired with proceeds of unlawful activities.
KofarNaisa also told court that the Commission published the interim forfeiture order in The Punch newspaper of December 9, 2024 for any interested party to show cause why the final order of forfeiture should not be made in favour of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Justice Owoeye, after listening to the submissions by KofarNaisa, ordered the final forfeiture of the property to the Federal Government of Nigeria.