December 09, (THEWILL) – As expected, nobody or company has come forward yet to claim ownership of the 753 units of duplexes on Plot 109 Cadastral Zone C09, Lokogoma District, Abuja, recently recovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
The recovery, which followed a ruling delivered on December 2, 2024 by Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie of the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Apo forfeiting the asset to the Federal Government, has been hailed as a massive achievement and the biggest by the EFCC since it was established. But failure to disclose the identity of the owner of the estate on the part of the has attracted criticism from many Nigerians who appear to be following the development with keen interest.
Although the anti-graft agency’s Head, Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, made an effort to defend this seeming ‘sin of omission’, saying that the commission’s actions were guided by a legal framework governing forfeiture proceedings and commitment to profession, his explanation is hardly sufficient to convince his audience.
According to the EFCC spokesman, forfeiture of the estate followed civil proceedings under Section 17 of the Advanced Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, which legally permits the EFCC to target property instead of individuals, particularly in cases of unclaimed assets.
Oyewale also argued that revealing names of individuals in the absence of direct evidence connecting them to the title documents of the duplexes would be unprofessional and premature.
Apparently the critics’ curiosity and desire to know who owned the estate was fired up by an earlier statement by the EFCC linking it to an unnamed ‘government top brass.’ In a society where corruption is quite clearly the norm, it will not be out of place to simply shrug off that remark, but not when the high and mighty are involved.
When the perpetrators of corruption are identified as the same people in charge of the country’s affairs, then there is a need to be very cautious.
In the absence of a direct clue to the identity of the owner of the 753 duplexes, it is speculated that a certain highly-placed individual who was quite active toward the end of the Muhammad Buhari Administration was the owner of the property. Another version of the story claims that the person in question co-owned it alongside other people. Whatever it may be, this is a clear indictment of the immediate past government in the country.
