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Lawyer battles to save Ekweremadu’s 22 houses from being forfeited

Published

8 years ago

April 10, 2018

The Federal Government has prayed a Federal High Court in Abuja not to dismiss Deputy Sen. President Ike Ekweremadu’s ex-parte motion to block the interim forfeiture of his 22 houses.

The 22 houses are said to be subject of an ongoing investigation by the Okoi Obono-Obla-led Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property.

The panel is investigating Ekweremadu for breach of code of conduct for public officers by his failure to list the houses in his asset declaration form to the Code of Conduct Bureau.

The panel weeks ago filed an ex parte motion seeking an interim forfeiture of the 22 houses located in Nigeria and three other foreign countries until the conclusion of the investigation of the Deputy Senate President.

But the senator , through his lawyer, had on March 26, 2018 filed a motion challenging the jurisdiction of the court to hear the Federal Government’s motion.

Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN) then prayed for an order declaring the panel as unconstitutional, illegal, null and void.

The case was mentioned before Justice Binta Nyako for the first time on Tuesday.

During the proceedings, Mr. Bala Dakum, who represented Mr. Festus Keyamo (SAN), the Federal Government’s lead counsel, said he had filed an objection to Ekweremadu’s motion seeking leave to be heard.

Awomolo argued that their motion challenging the court’s jurisdiction should be heard and determined ahead of other applications pending before the court.

But Dakum said that the court ought to first resolve whether or not to grant Ekweremadu leave to be heard.

The two leading officers of Nigeria’s federal legislature have been embroled in false asset declaration suits since 2015, Senate President Bukola Saraki being the first to face a trial that has dragged on all along.