The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has defended its decision not to reveal the identity of the owner(s) of 753 duplexes seized by the agency, saying it is following legal procedures.
On Monday, the agency said it had seized the duplexes and other properties in an estate in Abuja, the nation’s capital. It did not, however, reveal the identity of the owners, prompting backlash from Nigerians. The presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2023 election, Omoyele Sowore, was among the critics.
But the EFCC has described the backlash as “tantrums” and “unacceptable”.
“The commentaries of reform-minded Nigerians to the Commission’s painstaking efforts in securing the final forfeiture of the Estate to the Federal Government of Nigeria, are appreciated. However, the denigration of such efforts by Omowole Sowore and his think-same and act-same is unacceptable and grossly un-charitable,” the agency’s Head of Media & Publicity, Dele Oyewale, said in a Tuesday statement.
“The allegation of cover-up of the identity of the promoters of the Estate stands logic on the head in the sense that the proceedings for the forfeiture of the Estate were in line with Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud Act which is a civil proceeding that allows for action-in-rem rather than action-in-personam. The former allows legal actions against a property and not an individual, especially in a situation of an unclaimed property. This Act allows you to take up a forfeiture proceeding against a chattel that is not a juristic person. This is exactly what the Commission did in respect of the Estate.
“The proceedings that yielded the final forfeiture of the Estate were products of actionable intelligence available to the Commission. The company flagged by our investigations denied ownership of the Estate following publications made in leading national newspapers. On the basis of this, the Commission approached the court for an order of final forfeiture which Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court granted on Monday, December 2, 2024.”
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