Godwin Emefiele, former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), along with his associates, has allegedly been linked to the ownership of an estate comprising 753 duplexes and apartments recently seized by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Lokogoma, Abuja.
A court affidavit filed by the EFCC revealed details implicating Emefiele and his associates in the ownership of the estate. The affidavit, sworn by Idi Musa, an investigating officer with the EFCC, was submitted in support of an application for the final forfeiture of the property, filed at the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja, on 21 November.
On Monday, the EFCC announced it had secured the final forfeiture of the estate, describing it as the largest single-asset recovery since the agency’s inception in 2003. The property is a vast estate covering 150,462.86 square metres.
The affidavit disclosed that the EFCC while investigating alleged monumental fraud carried out by Emefiele and his cronies traced and discovered several properties suspected to have been acquired and or developed with proceeds of unlawful activities.
According to the EFCC, the estate in Lokogoma was abandoned and left under the care of a security guard since June 2023, following Emefiele’s arrest. The land, identified as Plot 109 at Cadastral Zone C09, was initially allocated to Windermere Nigeria Limited in September 2010 for mass housing development.
The affidavit further alleged that the former CBN Governor collected kickbacks in return for foreign exchange to some companies and contractors who were in desperate need of foreign exchange for their lawful and legitimate businesses.
According to the document, one Ifeanyi Omeke, a deputy general manager and head of litigation of Zenith Bank, worked closely with Godwin Emefiele and ran several errands for him which included purchase and perfection of title documents for several properties located in highbrow areas of Lagos and Abuja, including the property forfeited in Lokogoma.
“That upon a search conducted in the office premises of Mr. Ifeanyi Collins Omeke by the operatives of the Commission, several property title documents were recovered which investigation revealed were purchased investigation revealed were purchased with sums traced and reasonably believed to be proceeds of unlawful, activities to wit; kickback from allocation of Foreign exchange and award of contract.
“That during the cause of the search at the office premises of Mr. Ifeanyi Collins Omeke by the operatives of the Commission the Commission also recovered title documents of a landed property measuring 150,462.86 metre square lying and situate in Abuja as highlighted in schedule A to this application. The title and other relevant documents in relation to this property recovered from leanyi Omeke are attached and marked Exhibit EFCC01” the affidavit read.
The EFCC confirmed it had requested information from the Abuja Geographical Information Systems (AGIS) and relevant banks to trace the flow of funds and ownership structures tied to the estate. Title documents recovered during the investigation were presented in court as Exhibit EFCC01.
The investigation also found that three different companies were used in paying and acquiring the property. Ifeadigo Integrated Services Kelvito Integrated Services and Ice Frozen Food and Ventures were named as companies which transfered the sum of N2.2 billion to MG properties.
The affidavit revealed that the directors of Ifeadigo and Kelvito Integrated Services have been arrested.
