Abuja Property Issue: EFCC DENIES DISOBEYING COURT ORDER
The attention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has been drawn to some media reports insinuating that it disobeyed an order of Justice Musa Liman of the Federal High Court, Abuja directing its operatives to vacate a property situated at House 6, Aso Drive, Asokoro, Abuja.
While it is not in the character of the EFCC to respond to insinuations against it regarding judicial procedures and processes, it is imperative that the miscarriage of facts contained in the media reports are corrected to avail the public ungarnished truths about the matter.
The EFCC is renowned for its avowed respect for the rule of law and no claim of disobedience of court order can stand against owing to the fact that the court granted an order of possession of the property to the Commission on March 27, 2025. Justice Liman granted the order when the Commission submitted that the property was a proceed of an unlawful act by a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Allison-Madueke and forfeited to the government through an order of final forfeiture.
It is also needful to state that the Commission neither suppressed nor misrepresented any material fact before the court in securing an ex-parte order on March 27, 2025 to get a tenant in the house, Chief Ikechi Emenike to vacate the property because the contempt proceedings raised against Emenike in another court had no bearing on the judgment granting the possession of the property to the EFCC.
Available facts showed that Emenike was paying rent on the property when it was under interim forfeiture. Though he had a Tenancy Agreement with Diezani, it is untrue that he had been paying rent to the EFCC for over 10 years.
Equally preposterous are claims that the court granted him a Right of First Refusal to purchase the property. He was economical with the truths contained in the judgment of Justice Musa of April 18, 2024 where he clearly stated that Emenike should be allowed to “exercise the right of first refusal for the purchase of the said property whenever the Defendant announces or otherwise indicates that the property is to be disposed of, the disposal however to be at the prevailing market price to be determined by the Defendant upon a detailed valuation report from a reputable quantity surveyor”. Till date, the Commission has not announced or indicated any readiness for the disposal of the property. Enenike’s right of first refusal can, therefore, not hold any water.
Lastly, the Commission wishes to state that there is no subsisting contempt order on its Executive Chairman, Mr. Ola Olukoyede or its counsel in the matter, Mr. Francis Usani. There was no order of the court served on the EFCC’s boss or his lawyer. Besides, there is a pending Stay of Execution of the order of the court on June 16, 2025. The EFCC and its Chief Executive are law-abiding citizens.
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