Davidson Iriekpen
A Federal High Court in Lagos has approved the federal government’s request to temporarily seize 12 landed properties linked to a former Director of Finance at the Nigerian Air Force, Air Vice Marshal Jacobs Adigun.
Justice Mohammed Liman granted the interim order following an ex parte application by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The properties include houses at No. 27 Agodogba Avenue, Parkview Estate, Ikoyi, Lagos; No. 40A Bourdillon Road, Ikoyi, Lagos; Plot 164, Victoria Island Annex (Sinari Daranijo Street), VI, Lagos; Block 54A, Plot 14, Lekki Peninsula Scheme One; Capador Plaza, Adetokunbo Ademola Street, Wuse II, Abuja; Plot 762 Aminu Kano Crescent, Wuse II, Abuja; and No. 39 Agdez Street, Wuse II, Abuja.
Others are Sand Lake Hotel, Plot 3497 Sand Lake Street, Maitama, Abuja; Plot No. 61 Lake Chad Street, Maitama Abuja; No. 2 Imo Rivers Close, off Danube Crescent, Maitama, Abuja; and No. 2 River Palata Street, Maitama, Abuja.
The judge agreed with EFCC counsel Rotimi Oyedepo that it would be in the interest of justice for the court to order a temporary forfeiture of the properties.
Oyedepo persuaded the court that the properties, scattered across Lagos and Abuja, were reasonably suspected to be proceeds of a N21.4billion fraud allegedly perpetrated by Adigun alongside Air Commodore Olugbenga Gbadebo and a former Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Adesola Amosu.
Aside from the order for the temporary forfeiture of the properties, Justice Liman also ordered the anti-graft agency to publish the forfeiture order in a national daily newspaper to put interested parties on notice.
He adjourned till June 9 for anyone with interest in the properties to appear in court to give reasons why the properties should not be permanently forfeited to the federal government.
In an affidavit filed in support of the ex parte application, an investigating officer of the EFCC, Akube Okechuckwu, said the N21.4bn included N200m paid on January 7, 2014 into NAF Operations account by the Office of the National Security Adviser.
It also included N3billion maritime security support paid to the NAF by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) in September 2014; and N18.2billion moved out of NAF accounts into various cronies’ companies.
He said the N21.4bn was diverted through seven firms, namely: Juda Oil and Gas Limited; Namaliki Investment; Lebol Oil and Gas Limited; Hakuri Oil and Gas Limited; Mcallan Oil and Gas Limited; Delfina Oil and Gas Limited and Trapezites BDC.
