The Court of Appeal in Lagos has reversed an earlier decision by a Federal High Court that stopped the EFCC from seizing 14 properties allegedly linked to Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello.
Justice Yargata Nimpar, delivering the judgment virtually with two other justices concurring, said the lower court erred by dismissing the case based on the governor’s constitutional immunity. She stated the court should have ruled on whether the properties should be permanently forfeited to the government.
With this new ruling, the EFCC is now allowed to go ahead with a full hearing to decide if the properties should be permanently forfeited.
The case began at the Federal High Court in Lagos, where Justice Nicholas Oweibo had earlier allowed the EFCC to temporarily seize the 14 properties located in Lagos, Abuja, and Dubai.
The agency had claimed the properties were likely bought with illegal money.
The court also told the EFCC to publish the order in newspapers and give others the chance to contest the seizure if they had any interest in the properties.
Governor Bello later filed an objection. He argued that the properties were bought before he became governor and couldn’t have been purchased with state money.
He also said the EFCC had no right to go after him because, as a sitting governor, he was protected by the Constitution from court cases.
He added that a state court in Kogi had already stopped the EFCC from investigating the state’s accounts, and that the case should not be in Lagos since the properties were in other places.
The EFCC, led by lawyer Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), insisted that the properties, including a luxury apartment in Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, were suspicious and likely funded by crime. They also asked for the forfeiture of ₦400 million linked to the same case.
But the Federal High Court judge, Oweibo, agreed with Bello and struck out the case, saying the Constitution protected him from such legal actions while in office.
Unhappy with this decision, the EFCC went to the Court of Appeal, asking that the case be brought back.
The Appeal Court agreed with the EFCC. It ruled that even though a governor is protected from being sued, that does not apply to property that may have been bought with illegal money. The court said such property can still be investigated and temporarily seized until a final decision is made.
The court dismissed all of Bello’s objections, restored the seizure order, and told the EFCC to continue with the process to permanently take over t
he properties.
