Court adjourns EFCC’s suit seeking to confiscate Patience Jonathan’s property

THE Federal High Court sitting Abuja, on Monday, adjourned till April 12, 2018, to hear a motion brought before it by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) seeking to seize properties traced to the former first lady, Patience Jonathan.

The adjournment followed a request by counsel to the former first lady, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), who had asked the court for time to respond to the counter affidavit filed by the anti-graft agency.

The EFCC had filed an ex parte motion seeking temporary forfeiture of some properties allegedly belonging to Ariwabai Aruera Reachout Foundation which has a link with the former first lady; situated on Plot No. 1758, Cadastral Zone, B06 Mabushi and Plot No.1350, Cadastral Zone, A00 Central Business District, Abuja.

However, when the matter came up for hearing at the last adjournment, January 22, the trial judge, Justice Nnamdi Dimgba had ordered the investigation of the claim by the respondent that the said properties have been demolished by agents of the Federal Government.

When the matter came up yesterday for hearing, counsel to EFCC, Rimamsomte Ezekiel, told the court that its investigations showed that the said properties it seeks to freeze were not the ones demolished by agents of the government as claimed by the respondent.

He, however, said he has filed a counter affidavit, challenging the veracity of the respondent’s claims.

Chief Ozekhome, in his response, refuted the claim by the EFCC, lamenting that, if not for the insecurity in the country, the respondent would have moved the court to the demolished cite to personally confirm for itself.

He told the court that the respondent is in possession of a CD (compact disk) of the demolished building which it would present to the court at the next sitting.

While describing as a lie the counter affidavit filed by the applicant, Ozekhome claimed that the EFCC destroyed two of the four buildings and only took pictures of the two remaining buildings from the back.

He maintained that even if it was a room that was demolished, the applicant does not have the right to do so since the matter was already in court.

Justice Dimgba subsequently adjourned till April 12, 2018, for the hearing of the matter.

The report has it that the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Development and Control had allegedly demolished the said properties of the former first lady on 16th of January 2018.

Ozekhome said the demolition took place despite a suit challenging the temporary forfeiture application of the EFCC of the properties which is pending before a sister court presided over by Justice John Tsoho.

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“My Lord, we are in a democracy, not dictatorship. Demolition of the properties which are a subject matter of a suit before the court is the highest level of lawlessness and disregard to the rule of law. It is an act of intimidation on the judiciary.

“You cannot destroy properties already a subject matter of a suit before a court whether done directly or indirectly by the government or EFCC”, he told the court.