Return Saraki’s Ikoyi houses immediately – Court rules

On Thursday, the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos set aside its order of interim forfeiture on the properties of Senator Olubukola Saraki, located on 17 and 17A MacDonald Road, Ikoyi, Lagos State.

The unexpected judgment came after counsel for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr Nnaemeka Omewa, and counsel for Saraki, Mr Kehinde Ogunwumiju, SAN, had adopted their respective written addresses for and against the final forfeiture order sought by the EFCC.

Justice Abdullah Liman held that the essence of an interim order of forfeiture was to preserve the property from being dissipated by the suspect and the burden was on the EFCC to satisfy the court that the properties were proceeds of unlawful or illegal activity under the corruption laws.

Liman said the applicant had in its affidavit in support of its motion for final forfeiture stated that the properties sought to be forfeited were purchased with a personal loan that Saraki obtained from Guaranty Trust Bank.

“The evidence of the transactions presented by the applicant was in respect of transactions made after he had purchased the property and the proceeds used for the purchase were legal; that is loan.

“The applicant failed to prove its entitlement to the relief of final forfeiture of the respondent’s properties,” he said.

Liman, therefore, dismissed the application and vacated the interim forfeiture order it made on October 21, 2019.

Saraki has consistently fought and rejected all claims of corruption against his person, and has won a series of court cases to that effect— He has also described the allegations as political vendettas and “witch-hunts”.

Unlike most of his political contemporaries, Saraki was significantly wealthy having earned a sizeable fortune from successful business ventures before joining politics in 2000.