EFCC gets court’s nod to confiscate Ozekhome’s N75m

A Lagos-based human rights lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, may have landed in troubled waters as the Federal High Court in Lagos on Tuesday, ordered temporary forfeiture of N75 million found in his account to the EFCC.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is alleging that the money domiciled with Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) is proceeds of crime.

The EFCC, following the discovery of the money had filed an application before the court presided over by Justice AbdulAziz Anka through its counsel Rotimi Oyedepo, praying that Ozekhome’s account be temporary frozen based on the alleged money said to have been deposited in his account on December 15, 2016.

When the matter came up in the court on Tuesday, EFCC lawyer, Mr. Idris Mohammed, explained that the application was brought before the court pursuant to section 29 of EFCC Act.

He further said that three exhibit marked exhibit 01, 02 and 03 are attached with the Motion Ex-parte in addition to an affidavit of urgency sworn to by an investigator of the agency, Tosin Owobo.

He, therefore, prayed the court to grant the prayer ordering temporary forfeiture of the account for 120 days.

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The presiding Judge, Justice Anka, delivering ruling on the Motion Ex-parte by the anti-graft agency, ordered that Ozekhome’s account with the sum of N75 million domiciled with GTB be forfeited for 120 days.

He, however, ruled that any party that is not pleased with the ruling could appeal.

Meanwhile, there are insinuations in some quarters that Ozekhome’s travails may not be unconnected with his relationship with the Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose.

Ozekhome was Fayose’s counsel in the recent court case involving the governor’s bank accounts with the Zenith Bank and the EFCC, a case the governor has won on two occasions.

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