The Federal High Court in Lagos has fixed Thursday, September 12 for all applications’ hearings on a suit seeking to forfeit permanently some monies and properties owned by embattled former Central Bank of Nigerian (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele.
After listening to the submissions of all the counsel in the matter, Justice Deinde Dipeolu fixed the preferred date after Justice Akintayo Aluko, on August 15, ordered an interim forfeiture of $2.045 million and some landed properties linked to Emefiele.
Bilikisu Buhari-Bala appeared for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) while Olalekan Ojo (SAN) appeared for the former CBN Governor at the resumed hearing of the matter on Thursday,Another lawyer, Chibuzor Opara, announced his appearance for the occupants of 8a Adekunle Lawal Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, one of the properties sought to be forfeited by the EFCC to the Federal Government.
The EFCC counsel, Buhari-Bala told the court that the matter was fixed for Thursday, for report of compliance of the orders made on August 15, 2024.On that day, the vacation judge at the time, Justice Akintayo Aluko, had ordered an interim forfeiture of a cash sum of $2,045 million USD, and some landed properties linked to the embattled former CBN Governor.
The court had also ordered the publication of the forfeiture order in the newspapers to enable interested persons come forward to show cause why a permanent forfeiture order of the assets should not be made.Flowing from that, Buhari-Bala told Justice Dipeolu who took over as vacation judge, that the EFCC had complied with the orders of court and filed an affidavit showing that the order was published on August 28, 2024 in a newspaper.
Counsel to Emefiele, Ojo, in his response, informed the court that the applications filed were seeking to stay further proceedings in the forfeiture suit.“The law allows such an application to take precedence over the substantive application,” he said.The Senior Advocate urged the court to adjourn proceedings till Monday, Sept 9th, for the hearing of his client’s application.
