The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja granted permission on Friday for the Nigerian anti-graft agency, the Economic Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC to temporarily seize 40 assets that were allegedly linked to the former deputy senate president, Ike Ekweremadu.
After hearing an ex-parte motion made before the court by the EFCC, trial Justice Inyang Ekwo approved the interim forfeiture order.
An affidavit filed by Mr. Ibrahim Buba, a prosecutor at the EFCC which identifies the properties as the focus of an ongoing investigation was attached to the ex-parte application with the file number FHC/ABJ/CS/1242/2022.
Senator Ike Ekweremadu
The Locations Of The Properties
The EFCC testified in court that the landed properties, 10 of which are in Enugu, three in the United States of America, two in the United Kingdom, one in Lagos, nine in Dubai, and fifteen in the Federal Capital Territory, are believed to have been purchased with proceeds from crime.
Justice Ekwo ruled that the interim forfeiture order for the properties must be published in a national daily within seven days by the anti-graft agency.
The matter was then postponed until December 5 while the court awaited a report on any public opposition from anybody with an interest in any of the properties.
Your Action Is In Bad Faith, HURIWA Tells EFCC.
However, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), a civil rights advocacy group, on Thursday, criticized the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for its actions, which led to an interim assets forfeiture order against former Senate Deputy President Ike Ekweremadu by a Federal High Court in Abuja.
HURIWA group Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko said in a statement on Thursday, that the asset forfeiture lawsuit was malicious, immoral, in bad faith, and akin to a nation tossing its citizen under the bus because it was filed while Ekweremadu was in custody, facing trial in the United Kingdom, and unable to defend himself or adequately brief his lawyers.
Emmanuel Onwubiko, Image: Platinum Post News.
HURIWA noted that it appears that the anti-graft agency and the London Metropolitan Police are working together to sabotage Ekweremadu's bail and keep him imprisoned indefinitely.
It stated, "We are in shock over the news of the interim assets forfeiture order against Senator Ike Ekweremadu following an application by the EFCC.
"We are particularly shocked because it is coming at a time the Senator is fighting for his freedom, reputation, and the life of his daughter in a foreign land.
“We equally recall that the petition against Senator Ekweremadu, which he claimed was politically motivated, was lodged against him at the EFCC in 2016, but the Senator’s first brush with the anti-graft agency only came in the early hours of July 24, 2018, when operatives of the agency and a retinue of security agents laid siege to his Apo Legislative Quarters official residence without any previous invitation.
"It is instructive that security agencies also laid siege to the Maitama residence of the President of the Senate at the time, Dr. Bukola Saraki, in a simultaneous move that HURIWA and other civil society organizations rightly described as an attempt to muscle the legislature by preventing both presiding officers from plenary to remove them illegally from office. However, Saraki’s sudden appearance at the National Assembly botched their plan.
“We, therefore, find it discomfiting that although Ekweremadu was in Nigeria for the past six years, the EFCC suddenly found it auspicious to file assets forfeiture suits against him in July 2022 following the agency’s July 18, 2022, written assurances to the London Metropolitan Police ahead of the Senator’s bail hearing in July. That letter was tendered by the Metropolitan Police to scuttle Ekweremadu’s bail application.
“It is also instructive that this interim asset forfeiture order is again coming a few days to the pre-trial hearing on the Senator’s alleged organ harvest case in the UK rescheduled for Monday, November 7, 2022, and during which the Senator could reapply for bail.
“It is clearer why the court hearing was rescheduled from October 31 to November 7, 2022, after which the indefensible order must have been granted exparte against a man in detention contrary to the cardinal principle in law that both sides should be heard.
“This development, coupled with the fact that Ekweremadu’s real trial would only begin in May 2023, leaves HURIWA with no other choice than to suspect that there is a collaborative effort between EFCC, Metropolitan Police, and UK prosecutors to scuttle Ekweremadu’s bail prospects, once again, and keep him perpetually in detention over a bailable offense.
“Besides, HURIWA is also aware that the Senator had earlier won the two asset-related lawsuits between him and the Special Presidential Investigation Panel on the Recovery of Public Property (SPIP)”.
“We, therefore, reiterate that the EFCC’s move is malicious, immoral, ill-timed, political in appearance, and a typical case of a country throwing her citizen under the bus.
“If a country cannot help its citizen get a fair trial, why inject itself into his matter and add to his woes as the EFCC has done?" HURIWA asked.
Ekweremadu is currently facing prosecution in the UK for allegedly bringing David Ukpo there to harvest his organ.
The London Metropolitan Police detained Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice, and charged them with bringing a child (Ukpo) to the UK for organ harvesting.
The UK police claimed that Ukpo was 15 years old, but personal information on Ukpo's international passport and bank verification number, BVN, later revealed that he is roughly 21 years old.
Ekweremadu remains in custody, while his wife was granted bail by a UK judge on July 26 pending the outcome of the charges brought against them.
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