Appeal Court Affirms Final Forfeiture of MTN Shares, Hectares of Abuja Land Linked to Retired Major General

The court of appeal in Lagos has affirmed the judgement ordering the final forfeiture of the assets linked to Emmanuel Atewe, a retired major general, to the federal government.

The appellate court, in a unanimous ruling delivered virtually via Zoom on Wednesday, dismissed the Atewe’s appeal against the judgement of the federal high court in Lagos.

Atewe was a former commander of the joint task force (JTF) Operation Pulo Shield in the Niger Delta.

THE FINAL FORFEITURE ORDER

On May 5, 2023, the federal high court in Lagos granted an application by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for the final forfeiture of several properties, cash and investment assets linked to Atewe, which the anti-graft agency alleged to be proceeds of unlawful activities.

Chukwujekwu Aneke, the presiding judge, had held that Atewe failed to satisfactorily explain the lawful source of the assets after the EFCC established reasonable grounds to suspect that they had been acquired with proceeds of unlawful activities.

The judge also rejected Atewe’s arguments that the forfeiture proceedings constituted an abuse of court process because he was already standing trial in a separate criminal case involving the same transactions.

The assets forfeited include N3.97 million in cash, plot MF62 at the outer northern expressway, Abuja, plot No. 1228, Jahi, Abuja, plots CP6386 and CP6387 at Sabon Lugbe east extension layout, Airport road, Abuja, one-hectare parcels of land in Kuje district, a 50-hectare farmland at Gaube farmland extension II Layout, Kuje, a parcel of land at Commercial layout, Yenagoa Gardens, Bayelsa state, 30,000 MTN shares held by Stanbic IBTC Asset Management Limited, and plot No. CP10, Sector Centre B layout, Kuje, Abuja.

The anti-graft agency had told the trial court that investigations into the alleged diversion of over N8.5 billion belonging to the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) through the JTF (Operation Pulo Shield) revealed that funds were routed through several companies and proxies before being used to acquire the assets.

The EFCC told the court that the properties were reasonably suspected to have been acquired with proceeds of unlawful activities.

Dissatisfied with the trial judge’s decision, the retired major general approached the appeal court.

THE APPEAL COURT’S JUDGMENT

The appellate court presided over by Boloukuromo Ugo resolved all three issues raised in the appeal in favour of the EFCC.

The court rejected Atewe’s arguments that the civil forfeiture proceedings constituted an abuse of court process because he was facing criminal trial over almost the same matter.

The appellate court held that the forfeiture proceedings at the federal high court were directed solely against assets and not against the person of the appellant.

The court held that section 123 of the Armed Forces Act (AFA) and the decision in General Jafaru Muhammed vs EFCC, relied upon by Atewe, were inapplicable to his case.

The court also held that while Jafaru was a serving military officer, Atewe is a retired military officer.

The court ruled that the retired military officer failed to show sufficient proof that the assets were acquired genuinely, adding that his explanation referenced unspecified honoraria without providing adequate evidence linking those payments to the acquisition of the properties.