Justice Babagana Karumi of the Borno State High Court sitting in Maiduguri has ordered the interim forfeiture of a four-bedroom flat standing on a 50ft x 100ft plot of land.
The judge issued the order following a motion ex parte filed by the Maiduguri Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
The forfeited property was attached based on an investigation which linked one Udda Hamid Ahmad (a.k.a Imam Dawud) to an allegation that, sometime in 2022 and 2023, the suspect approached Alhaji Ahmadu Idris and informed him that he would buy wheat offal at an affordable price and generate profits.
According to the investigation, Idris agreed and sent the sum of N345, 000,000.00 (Three Hundred and Forty Five Million Naira) for the purchase of offal with a promise to share the profit between the two of them.
While moving the application, EFCC counsel Mukhtar Ali Ahmed informed the court that the property is located at Dikecheri Mashamari ward, Jere Local Government, Borno State and suspected to be acquired with the proceeds of crime.
Almed further stated that the application was supported by an eight- paragraph affidavit deposed to by an operative of the EFCC, Maina Muhammad, who investigated the case.
According to the investigation, the EFCC received a petition written and signed by K.M Haruna on behalf of Idris, who alleged that the suspect misappropriated the sum of N345, 000,000.00 meant for the purchase of offal for his personal use.
Delivering judgment on a motion ex parte, Justice Karumi granted the application and ordered the interim forfeiture of the property.
In another development, Justice Jude K. Dagat of the Federal High Court sitting in Maiduguri granted an interim forfeiture order and freezing of accounts belonging to one Muhammad Abubakar (aka Abubakar Muhammad).
The order was made after a motion ex parte was moved by the EFCC‘s counsel, Ahmed, in a twenty- paragraph affidavit and two exhibits in support of the motion that was deposed to by an operative of the EFCC, Suleiman Baw
The attached items include a Keystone Bank Plc account No: 6044662000 with the name: Muhammad Abubakar, Tecno Camon 40 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max.
Justice Dagat thereafter ordered that the bank account and funds therein, and mobile phones, be forfeited to the Federal Government pending the investigation of the case.
Abubakar is under investigation for the offence of criminal misappropriation and cheating.
