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Nigerians have demanded transparency from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) after it failed to disclose the identity of the individual behind a massive estate in Abuja that was forfeited to the government.
On Monday, Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie issued a final forfeiture order for the estate located in the Lokogoma District, measuring 150,500 square metres and comprising 753 duplexes and various flats.
But announcing the achievement, the anti-graft agency only referred to the asset’s former owner as a “former top brass of government” without revealing their identity did
Some Nigerians who reacted to the post on X accused the agency of shielding high-profile offenders.
A user on X (formerly Twitter), @Aminuyaro, questioned, “What exactly is ‘former top brass’? Is withholding his or her name part of the deal? The court’s ruling should be reason enough to disclose the individual’s identity. Let Nigerians know who is ruining their country.”
Similarly, @FemiOguntayo2 criticised the EFCC for alleged selective transparency, stating “All this long piece and you can’t even name this suspected criminal… or just his or her picture. But if it was an ordinary citizen or suspected Yahoo boy, you would have jailed him and shared his pictures on social media. Let us know when you’re really ready to do your job fairly.”
Another user, @OkahEwahEdede asked: “What’s the name of the “former top brass of the government”? I don’t want to believe that you guys are protecting the identity of a corrupt government official.”
@DanielRegha said: “The EFCC is proving to be [not] better than the criminals they go after; An epic d’sgrace.”
Meanwhile, Human rights activist and convener of #RevolutionNow Movement, Omoyele Sowore, claimed in a post on X that the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, owns the estate in question.
When THE WHISTLER reached out to the EFCC spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, seeking confirmation on the identity of the individual, he promised to get back.
The anti-graft agency had earlier said, “The forfeiture of the property to the federal government by a former top brass of the government was pursuant to EFCC’s mandate and policy directive of ensuring that the corrupt and fraudulent do not enjoy the proceeds of their unlawful activities. In this instance, the Commission relied on Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud And Other Fraud Related Offences Act No 14, 2006 and Section 44 (2) B of the Constitution of the 199 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to push its case.
“Ruling on the Commission’s application for the final forfeiture of the property, Justice Onwuegbuzie held that the respondent have not shown cause as to why he should not lose the property, “which has been reasonably suspected to have been acquired with proceeds of unlawful activities, the property is hereby finally forfeited to the federal government.
“The justification for the forfeiture is derived from Part 2, Section 7 of the EFCC Establishment Act, which stipulates that the EFCC “has power to cause investigations to be conducted as to whether any person, corporate body or organization has committed any offence under this Act or other law relating to economic and financial crimes and cause investigations to be conducted into the properties of any person if it appears to the Commission that the person’s lifestyle and extent of the properties are not justified by his source of income.”
