The Court of Appeal, Abuja Division on Friday, June
20, 2025 upheld the January 22, 2025 ruling of the Federal
High Court, Abuja Division, presided over by Justice Inyang Ekwo for
the final forfeiture of N1,582,000,000 (One Billion, Five Hundred and
Eighty-two Million) to the federal government, through the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC against Steve Olusegun Ogidan.
He was the National Coordinating Consultant
of Nigerian Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending,
NIRSAL and was investigated for criminal breach of trust,
bribery and money laundering alongside Aliyu Abbati Abdulhameed,
then former Managing Director of NIRSAL.
Investigation by the Commission against the duo led
the Commission to a reasonable suspicion that Ogidan acquired the sum through
illegitimate activities, specifically bribery from consultants he was supposed
to monitor and supervise, which resulted in leaving the job totally undone. The
EFCC had on February 5, 2024 secured an order of interim
forfeiture on the said amount.
Dissatisfied with the final forfeiture order, Ogidan
and Abdulhameed filed separate appeals, challenging the order and seeking a
determination by the Appeal Court as to whether the trial court rightly
applied Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud Act by causing the
money to be forfeited to federal government. The appeal was heard on
April 10, 2025 and judgment was reserved till Friday, June 20, 2025.
In a unanimous dismissal of the appeal, by the
justices of the appellate court, Justice Okon Abang in the lead judgment held
that the appeals lacked merit and that the trial court could not be faulted in
granting the interim forfeiture to the federal government, especially as the
appellant in his voluntary request for an out-of-court settlement willingly
returned the sum to the federal government, through the EFCC.
Comments:
Leave a Reply