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A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos presided by Justice Muhammed Liman has fixed February 19, 2021, for ruling in a suit filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for the total and final forfeiture of two properties belonging to the former Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki.
The decision to fix the date was reached on Tuesday after al parties adopted and argued their final written addresses.
The former Senate President, who was also a two-term governor of Kwara State, is being scrutinized by the EFCC which claimed that Saraki withdrew over N12 billion cash from the account of the Kwara government and deposited same into his personal accounts through one of his aides, Abdul Adama while serving as governor between 2003 and 2011.
The court had on October 21, 2019, ordered the interim forfeiture of the two properties located on 17 and 17b, McDonald Road, Ikoyi, Eti-Osa Local Government Area of Lagos State, which were said to have been acquired with proceeds of unlawful activity.
Saraki through his counsel, Kehinde O Ogunwunmiju (SAN), approached the court to discharge the temporary order once he was served with the interim forfeiture order.
However, the judge refused to discharge the interim order. Instead, he ordered the parties to show cause why the two properties should be forfeited to the Nigerian government.
The court commenced hearing on the motion for final forfeiture of the said properties on February 6, 2020.
The anti-graft agency alleged the properties were obtained with loans from GTBank and repaid with Kwara State funds.
But Saraki told them that he was already a successful businessman before he came into politics. He told the court that EFCC must prove that the properties were proceed of an unlawful act.
The former governor’s counsel, Ogunwunmiju, urged the court to dismiss the EFCC’s motion on the ground that the agency had failed woefully to prove its case against his client.
Ogunwunmiju also asked the court to discharge earlier interim forfeiture placed on the two properties.
The EFCC, in an affidavit attached with the motion for final forfeiture of the said properties, alleged that the former senate president acquired the two properties with proceeds of unlawful activity.
This post was written by Obiajulu Joel Nwolu.
The views expressed here belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect our views and opinions.