Ex-Attorney General To Finally Forfeit 3 Property & Cash Of N775m – EFCC

The ultimate forfeiture of the amount of N775 million and three properties located in the affluent parts of Abuja to the Federal Government has been ordered by the Federal High Court in Abuja.

On Monday, November 21, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) successfully negotiated the ultimate forfeiture to the Federal Government.

A plot of land at Plot 1960, Cadastral Zone A05, Maitama District, FCT, Abuja; a hotel that is currently under construction with a generating set, located at Plot 621, Road 37, Gwarimpa, FCT, Abuja; and a twin 4 bedroom duplex with guard quarters, located at Plot 736, 7th Avenue Gwarimpa, FCT, Abuja, are the locations of the properties.

The money and assets are allegedly the result of criminal activity by Colonel Bello Fadile, an assistant to former national security adviser Col. Sambo Dasuki, and Jonah Otunla, a former Accountant General of the Federation.

Christopher Mshelia, counsel to the EFCC, informed the court in a motion for the final forfeiture of the assets that was made on Monday before a Federal High Court in Abuja that the assets recovered by the Commission during the course of investigating contract fraud in the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) under Sambo Dasuki were the results of the illegal activities of Colonel Bello Fadile and Jonah Otunla.

While Otunla and Otunba Ade Adelakun (late) returned the N775 million during the investigation, it is “reasonably suspected” that the landed properties sought to be forfeited are “proceeds of an unlawful activity” that were “received, retained, concealed, and converted by the respondents from the office of the National Security Adviser to the President.”

On July 20, 2020, the Commission obtained a temporary forfeiture order on the assets. On August 11, 2022, the respondent was given the opportunity to show cause as to why the funds and assets should not be permanently forfeited to the federal government.

The trial Judge, Justice Donatus Okorowo, in granting the final forfeiture, stated that the court was satisfied with the evidence before it and ordered the final forfeiture of the assets to the Federal Government of Nigeria.