Justice Mohammed Umar of the Federal High Court in Maitama, Abuja, has set April 30, 2026, as the date for a decision on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s (EFCC) request for the final forfeiture of a property owned by the former Acting Accountant General of the Federation, Chukwunyere Anamekwe Nwabuoku.
During the hearing on Tuesday, defense attorney N.I. Quakers, SAN, told the court about an application to set aside the interim forfeiture order that the court granted on January 27, 2025. He also told the court about a notice of preliminary objection, dated August 15, 2025, that was about the court’s jurisdiction.
He asked the court to throw out the prosecution’s final forfeiture request because the property in question is also part of the reason he is on trial for a crime in another court. He asked the court if it had the power to hear the case and asked it to throw out EFCC’s motion.
In response, the prosecution’s lawyer, Ekele Iheanacho, SAN, pointed to a motion that was submitted on May 6, 2024, and asked for the ultimate forfeiture order. He indicated that there was a good cause to believe that the property in question was bought with money from crimes. The prosecution said that the motion is backed up by an eight-paragraph affidavit prepared by Chinyelu Vivian Okpara, an EFCC agent, along with attachments labeled Exhibit EFCC 1 to EFCC 7. The prosecuting attorney asked the court to approve the application for the final seizure of the property, using all of the paragraphs in the affidavit as evidence.
The prosecution lawyer went on to say, “My lord, at the time of these transactions, the respondent was the Director of Finance in the Ministry of Defence.” The money was only given to the military to fight Boko Haram, and some of it went to the Ministry of Defense. Using fake accounts, some of the money was sent to different places, up to N900 million.
“My lord, about N355 million of that money went to the respondent. It was sent through an account he chose, which belonged to his friend, M Davies Enterprises Ltd. The property in question was bought with money from that account, and the defendant is now living in that property. During the investigation, the defendant gave up the keys to the house and returned some of the money on his own. When this case started, he surprisingly turned around and tried to stop the property from being taken. He stated, “We ask the court to grant the application.”
The prosecution lawyer went on to say, “We also filed another affidavit on May 16, 2024.” He repeated again, “We ask your lordship to grant this application.”
Justice Umar put off the case until April 30, 2026, when he will rule on the motions and make a decision.
The anti-corruption agency is also bringing Nwabuoku to court on a new nine-count accusation of money laundering involving N868,465,000 (Eight Hundred and Sixty-eight Million, Four Hundred and Sixty-five Thousand Naira) before Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
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