Court orders ex-Naval chief Admiral Ezeoba to forfeit N1.8bn to Nigeria

Justice Muslim Hassan of the Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered the temporary forfeiture of the sum of N1.825bn found in the bank accounts of a company, Acquila Leasing Limited.

EFCC, which obtained the forfeiture order on behalf of Federal Government, said that the N1.825b was part of N2.387bn allegedly diverted from the coffers of Nigerian Navy by a former Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Dele Ezeoba (retd.), who headed the navy between 2012 and 2014.

An EFCC prosecutor, Rotimi Oyedepo, took an ex parte application, filed pursuant to Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act of the 1999 Constitution, before Justice Hassan on Wednesday to obtain the temporary forfeiture order.

He urged the judge to urgently grant the forfeiture order in the interest of justice.

The judge granted the order and gave 14 days for the first respondent, Acquila Leasing Limited; the second respondent, Chwuka Onwuchekwa; and any other party interested in the money to appear before him to give reasons why the funds should not be permanently forfeited to Nigeria.

Hassan adjourned till March 29, 2017 for all the interested parties to appear before him.

And if nobody comes forward, like the Billions linked to Madam Diezani and some bank chiefs, it's going straight to Nigeria's account to serve all Nigerians.