EFCC vs. APC Chieftain: Abuja property battle heats up

A legal battle is brewing between Chief Ikechi Emenike, the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in the 2023 general election, and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over the possession of a forfeited property located at 6 Aso Drive, Asokoro, Abuja.

Emenike accuses the anti-graft agency of flagrant disobedience of court orders, a claim the EFCC vehemently denies, insisting its actions are lawful.

According to Chief Emenike, Justice Musa Liman of the Federal High Court, Abuja, explicitly ordered the EFCC to vacate the disputed property and subsequently turned down the commission’s request for a stay of execution.

Emenike, who provided certified copies of court documents, asserts that the EFCC has disregarded this directive.

He alleges that after an initial ex parte order secured by the EFCC to evict him was reversed by the same court, the EFCC has refused to comply, even threatening court bailiffs and police officers sent to enforce the order.

“The court not only rejected and dismissed the EFCC motion, the court also told them to go and purge themselves of their disobedience of the order. The court stated that the EFCC’s behaviour is unconscionable,” Emenike stated.

He also claimed that the EFCC initially appointed an agent, Azikagbon & Co, to whom he had been paying rent since January 2017 after the property was secured as a forfeited asset.

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Conversely, the EFCC, in a swift rebuttal, dismissed Emenike’s allegations as untrue. The commission maintained that it obtained a “legitimate order of possession from the court” before taking over the property.

“It is not in the character of the EFCC to engage in judicial disobedience,” the EFCC declared in its statement.

The anti-graft agency clarified that there was no misrepresentation of facts before Justice Liman and that Emenike’s tenancy does not invalidate the final forfeiture order on the property, which they claim was a proceeds of unlawful activity by a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke.

The EFCC also denied that any valid court order of contempt had been served on its Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, or its counsel, Mr. Francis Usani.

Regarding Emenike’s claim of a “Right of First Refusal” to purchase the property, the EFCC stated that Justice Musa’s April 18, 2024 judgment only granted Emenike the right to be considered if and when the property is officially put up for sale, a condition the EFCC says has not yet occurred.

The commission further disputed Emenike’s assertion of paying rent to the EFCC for over a decade, stating he had a rental agreement with the former minister but not with the commission for such a duration.

This ongoing dispute highlights a critical contention over judicial authority and adherence to court pronouncements by government agencies.