The fall of the former acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, who is being investigated on allegations of corruption raised by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, is beginning to restore justice to some victims of his oppressive regime. The former President of the Senate in the Eighth National Assembly, Dr. Bukola Saraki, appears to be bouncing back to reckoning, recovering his two houses that were temporarily forfeited to the federal government through the EFCC.
Apparently, the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos turning down EFCC request for permanent forfeiture of the property, directed that the two houses belonging to Bukola Saraki previously forfeited to EFCC be returned to him.
The presiding Judge of the Federal Court, Lagos, Justice Rilwan Aikawa, in his judgment declared that there is no sufficient basis in the EFCC application for the permanent forfeiture of Saraki’s houses. Justice Aikawa maintained he was not convinced to grant the request or order permanent forfeiture of the property. He, therefore, ordered the release of Saraki’s houses in Ilorin, Kwara State.
The judge, had in December 2019, granted an interim forfeiture of Saraki’s houses located at Plots No. 10 and No. 11 Abdulkadir Road, GRA, Ilorin, Kwara State, through an ex parte motion filed by the EFCC.
The EFCC had claimed before the court that Saraki acquired the property through proceeds of unlawful activities during his administration as the governor of Kwara State.
The commission in its application, had stated that there is “a damning intelligence report, showing monumental fraud perpetrated in the treasury of the Kwara State Government between 2003 and 2011.”
Saraki, however, resisted the forfeiture of his Ilorin houses on several occasions, protesting that EFCC was merely witch hunting him.
The former Senate President had declared: “The EFCC’s claim that the Ilorin property was built by any proceeds of fraud is outrightly false. One can only see that EFCC is playing politics and spreading falsehood in its cheap attempt to witch-hunt and intimidate a perceived enemy.”
Saraki had explained that the Ilorin property was built partly by the Kwara State Government pursuant to the Third Schedule of the Governor and Deputy Governor (Payment of Pension) Law 2010 while he funded the remaining cost of the building with his personal funds.
However, Saraki had also disclosed that Magu thought that he stopped the EFCC chairman’s confirmation in the Senate when presented by Professor Yemi Osibnbajo, then, a ting President. The former Senate President explained that the report of the DSS which indicted Magu obstructed his confirmation as EFCC chairman by the Senate, adding that there was no individual influence in the decision.
Meanwhile, the former Senate President has recovered his two houses through the same court that ordered their forfeiture at a time Magu is undergoing investigation on corruption allegations.