The former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, through his lawyers last week, asked the Court of Appeal to overturn a judgement which granted the Federal Government full control of a substantial estate in Abuja comprising of 753 housing units. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had obtained a court order to seize the estate, situated in the Lokogoma District of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Initially, the estate was linked to another unnamed former government official, but after extensive investigation by the anti-graft agency, Emefiele was fingered as the real owner of the property. When confronted with the evidence, he denied ownership of the estate, and it was quite easy for the EFCC to secure both interim and final forfeiture orders on the property.
However, Emefiele, through his legal representative, A.M. Kotoye, is now contending that the former apex bank governor ought to have been involved in the court proceedings, as he holds an interest in the property. He has now gone to the Appeal Court seeking to reverse the lower court’s ruling.
“I was unaware of the forfeiture order,” Emefiele asserted in his court papers. He also maintained that he possessed both legal and equitable interests in the estate, despite the court’s assertion that he failed to provide proof of ownership. His lawyer did not stop at that, but also wrote to the Minister of Housing, urging the government to halt all plans to sell the estate until the appeal is resolved.
Just few months ago, and while still in government, Emefiele did all within his power to wash his hands off the estate. In actual fact, he denied ownership of the estate and it was Ifeanyi Omeke, a deputy General Manager and Head, Litigation of Zenith Bank, that was alleged to own the property. Omeke, however, works for Emefiele. It was after extensive investigation that the EFCC was able to link Emefiele and Omeke to be partners in crime.
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Indeed, Idi Musa, an EFCC investigative officer revealed in court, various companies involved in the illegal acquisitions of the property between 2010 and 2021, which are all linked to the former CBN Governor. According to him, the said land, known as Plot 109, lying and situated at Cadastral Zone C09 was initially allocated to Windermere Nigeria Limited on the 15th day of September, 2010, for mass housing development. The title of the property was later transferred to M.G Property Limited via an executed Deed of Assignment. But sometime in August 2021, M.G Properties transferred its title to H & Y Business Global Limited. However, H & Y Business Global Limited is also being investigated for acquiring one of the properties forfeited in the interim by the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, for the sum of N2.2b from the Nigeria Minting and Printing Ltd. for and on behalf of the then Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Godwin Emiefele.
Monies H & Y Business Global Limited used for the acquisition of the property were not from their legitimate income but were fraudulently procured by Emefiele and his cronies to disguise and conceal the unlawful origin of the funds used in the acquisition of the properties. Idi Musa of the EFCC was able to prove at the lower court that those funds came from Emefiele.
Without prejudice to the appeal filed before the court of appeal, it is quite clear that we have a system in place in Nigeria that makes it easy for those in power to loot the treasury at will. With Emefiele now boldly coming out to claim ownership of the property said to be the biggest seizure by the EFCC since its creation, he should be ready to prove in court how he was able to acquire the property with his legitimate salaries and allowances as Governor of the apex bank in Nigeria.
Though amongst the top earners in the country going by the nature of his job, and in fact, earning more in salary than the President, Emefiele’s total emoluments is still a far cry from what has been seized from him since his arrest and ongoing prosecution for graft by the federal government.
Just two months ago, Justice Ayokunle Faji of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos, ordered the final forfeiture of $1,426,175.14 also linked to Emefiele to the federal government. The court had given the final forfeiture order after a motion on notice filed and argued by Bilkisu Buhari, counsel for the EFCC, which went uncontested by any interested parties. The motion was supported by an affidavit deposed to by David Jayeoba, an investigating officer with the EFCC, who stated that investigation carried out showed that the fund was reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities “warehoused” in Donatone Limited’s (DL)’s Titan Trust Bank account.
He stated thus: “The investigation traced the funds to having been fixed into interest-yielding accounts, dissipated and laundered through a foreign account in Mauritius, and transported back to Nigeria under disguise. Of the total sum of $26,552,000.00 USD received by the firm, the balance standing in the said account as of today is in the sum of $1,426,175.14 million USD. It is the balance in the account that the applicant seeks to forfeit to the Federal Government of Nigeria, which has been traced to be the proceeds of unlawful activities of erstwhile Central Bank Governor of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele and his cronies. Investigations further revealed that the international entities sourcing for forex were pressured into parting with huge funds to access forex during the period. The signatories to the account warehousing the sum of $1,426,175.14 USD sought to be forfeited are at large and are making frantic efforts to dissipate the funds electronically.”
Until he dabbled into the Presidential race in 2022, while still in government as CBN Governor, many Nigerians never believed that Emefiele could be involved in such level of graft. But when reporters stumbled on over 50 brand new cars with Emefiele for President boldly inscribed on them, it became clear that Emefiele was involved in many shady deals through kickbacks and arbitrage. At the helm of affairs at the apex bank, Emefiele operated an opaque foreign exchange regime that allowed those close to him to get foreign currency at cheaper rate which they resell at the black market, making them instant millionaires.
In Nigeria, stealing is gradually becoming a pandemic, as many in power don’t even know when to stop once they start, and this is usually the intention when they seek elective office. Indeed, when an individual experiences a recurring, irresistible urge to steal, even if they don’t need to, or are motivated by pleasure rather than financial gain or need, it is considered an impulse-control disorder termed as Kleptomania. Emefiele might be suffering from the disease.
But he is not the only culprit. There are several others. The EFCC, few years ago, uncovered another N90 billion fraud involving the former Accountant-General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris. He was immediately suspended by the then President Muhammadu Buhari, who later appointed Anamekwe Nwabuoku as the new Accountant-general of the federation in acting capacity. Even at that, Nwabuoku was able to corner a huge portion of our commonwealth to himself within a few months.
When he was caught and arraigned before a Federal High Court, Nwabuoku pleaded with Justice James Omotoso to give him more time to conclude the refund of the public funds allegedly looted by him and his co-defendant. He and his co-defendant, Felix Nweke, were then facing an 11-count charge of money laundering to the tune of N1.6 billion. The defendants were accused of committing to the act while Nwabuoku served as the Director of Finance and Accounts in the Ministry of Defence between 2019 and 2021.
Indeed, to tackle the problem, we need to strengthen our accounting systems and make our institutions much stronger than what we currently have.
While Nwabuoku is the first defendant, Nweke is the second defendant in the charge marked FHC/ABJ/CR/240/24 dated May 20 and filed on May 27 by EFCC counsel, Ekele Iheanacho. Nwabuoku was appointed acting AGoF on May 20, 2022, under ex-President Muhammadu Buhari after Ahmed Idris was suspended as AGF over alleged N80bn fraud. He was, however, removed in July 2022, a few weeks after assuming office.
Former Petroleum Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, whilst in office, was able to steal so much that she doesn’t even know what to do with the looted funds. Expensive under wears and gold were some items confiscated from her. At the end of EFCC investigations into her sleaze, N47.2 billion and $487.5 million in cash and property were traced to her by the EFCC. Alison-Madueke served under former President Goodluck Jonathan, and has remained a fugitive, running from the hands of the law in Nigeria.
There are several former Governors and Ministers that are facing corruption charges by the EFCC.
A think-tank group in the United Kingdom known as the Chatham House claims that $582 billion has been stolen from Nigeria since independence in 1960. That report, released in 2019, was the base of an article published in The Economist on the corruption drama in Nigeria titled: ‘Catch Me if You Can, African Kleptocrats are finding it tougher to stash cash in the West’.
The question to be asked then is why is it so easy for government officials to dip their sticky fingers into the till? Former Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun, while speaking at a three-day conference organised by the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), said that the country has been fighting to recover illicit funds from corruption that have been transferred out of the country over the past 20 years. She however, noted that it is far too easy to steal in Nigeria, and that measures needed to be put in place to discourage the trend. According to her, prevention is better than cure.
“Recovering money is exciting, but it is difficult. It takes years. We’re still battling to recover money that was looted from Nigeria 20 years ago. So, my perspective as minister of Finance and as an Accountant is: how do we block the money from getting out in the first place? How do we strengthen our controls? How do we create the early warning systems that tell us to flag certain transactions? Let’s stop the money going out; let’s stop the loss, and then we can work on recovery.” She also revealed that plans are being put in place to make it harder for looters to loot the country’s treasury.
“We are taking steps to improve tax administration, to improve compliance, and just to generally make it a little more difficult for people to loot the treasury.” Few months after those statements, she was forced to resign after it was discovered that she did not take part in the mandatory one-year National Youth Service (NYSC) scheme.
Indeed, to tackle the problem, we need to strengthen our accounting systems and make our institutions much stronger than what we currently have. Currently, in most establishments, auditors who are meant to serve as checks and balance in the accounting circle are all part of the sleaze. While many attribute the level of corruption in the country to poverty, some acts of corruption, especially those involving government officials stealing billions of Naira, should be identified as a disease and mitigated with the death penalty as it is done in China and other countries. Otherwise, we will continue to go round in circles in the supposed fight against corruption in the country.
See you next week.
