N8.5bn fraud: Court orders final forfeiture of ex-Army General’s properties

Justice Chukujekwu Aneke of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Friday ordered the final forfeiture of eight properties linked to Maj. Gen. Emmanuel Atewe ( rtd.), a former Commander of the Military Joint Task Force, Operation Pulo Shield, in the Niger Delta.

Seven of the properties are in Abuja and one in Bayelsa State, as well as 30,000 MTN shares (MTN Link Units).

The landed properties are: 50 hectares of farmland at Plot No. FL746B Gaube Farmland Extension II Layout, Kuje, Abuja; a piece of land located at Commercial Layout, Yenagoa Gardens, Bayelsa State; one hectre of land in Kuje District, Abuja; Plot No. CP10, Sector Centre B Layout, Kuje, Abuja; Plot MF62 Outer Northern Expressway Cadastral Zone, Abuja; Plot No. 1228 Jahi, Abuja; four hectares of land designated as Plot No.CP6386 and Plot No.CP6387, Sabon Lugbe, Abuja.

The EFCC, had, on March 26, 2020, secured the interim forfeiture of the sum of N290, 000,000( Two Hundred and Ninety Million) reasonably suspected to be proceeds of an unlawful activity, the landed properties and 30,000 MTN shares, following an ex parte application filed before Justice Muhammad Liman, who has since been transferred to the Kano Division of the Federal High Court.