The embattled governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, has dragged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to the Court of Appeal seeking to upturn the Federal High Court judgement giving the latter the full right of control over an estate comprising 753 housing units recently discovered in Abuja.
The estate, located at Lokogoma District in Abuja, was recently forfeited to the EFCC through an order of court.
The estate of duplexes comprising 753 housing units had earlier been linked to an undisclosed CBN top man, with speculations flying around that the culprit would not be any other person than Emefiele who has been on trial on charges that border on corruption, abuse of office, terrorism, among others.
However, in a brazen manner, Emefiele has come out to claim ownership of the estate, seeking an order from the Court of Appeal to stop the Federal Government from auctioning them off as planned.
In the suit filed by his counsel, Mr A.M. Kotoye, the former CBN governor contended that he was not notified before the forfeiture order was granted, insisting that he possess both legal and equitable interests in the property. He also asserted that the EFCC had not followed due process in obtaining the forfeiture, and as such, the order was wrongly granted.
“The entire ruling is a miscarriage of justice,” Emefiele declared.
He added, “The failure of the trial judge to properly evaluate the affidavit and documents before him is perverse and has caused a miscarriage of justice.
“The orders were made in breach of the 1999 Constitution and are therefore null and void.”
Meanwhile, as the legal battle rages, Emefiele’s legal team has written to the Minister of Housing, requesting the government to put on abeyance all ongoing plans to auction off the estate until the appeal is resolved.
“We are aware that the properties may soon be sold to the public. We have already served the EFCC with a notice of appeal and an injunction,” the letter stated.
It would be recalled that the Federal Government had recently announced intentions to auction off the estate to low- and middle-income Nigerians.
