‘EFCC making mockery of anti-graft war,’ Kogi reacts to court order on properties

The Kogi State Government has reacted to a ruling by the Federal High Court, Lagos, which ordered the forfeiture of 14 properties and a sum of N400 million to the Federal Government.

Justice Nicholas Oweibo had earlier on Wednesday ordered the forfeiture of properties linked to the Kogi State government and located in Lagos, Abuja and the United Arab Emirates to the federal government.

The judge granted the order following an ex parte motion filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

In a statement issued by the state’s Commissioner for Information and Communications, Kingsley Fanwo, the state government lamented that the EFCC has made mockery of the fight against corruption with its “disgraceful fixation on the state in the pursuit of the political interests of its Chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa and his godfathers.”

The commission, according to Fanwo, has reduced itself to an object of laughter with the collection of confused and unintelligent officers in its payroll.

He said Kogi has no property that can be forfeited to the federal government under any guise and described the order as a campaign of calumny taken too far.

READ ALSO: EFCC tackles Agbakoba over comments on probe of Kogi finances

The commissioner said: “The forfeiture joke is clearly a desperate concoction of confused and unintelligent officials.

“Nigerians, and indeed, the international community are not as ignorant as the convicted Bawa and his sponsors. They know, with the different onslaughts against the Kogi State Government, and its officials, that this is clear persecution by a desperate and power drunk EFCC.

“In due course, Nigerians will confirm that the EFCC, under Bawa, is the capital of corruption amongst agencies in Nigeria.

“Unlike the convicted Bawa, who has no regard for the courts, we want to state clearly here that, from what we have read in the media, not one we witnessed, this is a forfeiture proceeding and the order is an order of interim forfeiture, which gives persons who allegedly own the properties rights to come to court to establish their ownership of the said properties. We will follow through with the courts.

“For now, it is clear the EFCC has declared a tactless open war against the Kogi State Government, owing mainly to the Governor’s unflinching loyalty to the All Progressives Congress and not individuals. We will prove our innocence in court. It is a matter of time.

“On this note, we advise the public to ignore Bawa’s EFFC’s latest naked dance in the market square as the desperate last kicks of a dying horse.”

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