One of the EFCC forfeited houses auctioned recently
The controversy surrounding the ownership and forfeiture of 753 duplexes discovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) will not go away until the commission answers nagging posers agitating the mind of the average Nigerian. While it is remarkable that the discovery is one of the commission’s anti-corruption most impressive achievements, if indeed the scheme constitutes proceedings arising from suspected fraud, the haul will not go unblemished until the seemingly polluted air around it is fully cleared.
One of the matters arising is relating to the opaqueness of the duplexes’ ownership. Who actually owns them? Another question is whether they are indeed proceeds of crime, and if so, what crime? Are the funds public or slush funds? More importantly, how does the state or any of its agencies operate in a way that allows suspected diversion or corruption of funds to be so huge that it can build 753 duplexes at a time?
Nigerians notice that the EFCC did not name the owner of the 753 duplexes and other apartments claimed to have been built with fraud proceeds on Plot 109, Cadastral Zone CO9, Lokogoma District in Abuja. This is demoralising and unacceptable. Until the owner of the houses is exposed to Nigerians, it will be difficult for the anti-graft agency to successfully dismiss the spreading allegation of a cover-up in the case, no matter the efforts it has put into what is now being described as the largest asset recovery in the country.
Nigerians believe that with the information gathered by the commission in the course of its investigation, it ought to have been able to establish the owner of the property, and no matter the proceedings adopted by the agency in court for the forfeiture of the houses to the government, it is necessary to make the name known to Nigerians. After all, the country belongs to all Nigerians, and if, indeed, funds belonging to Nigeria are being stolen or illegally diverted, Nigerians should know who is stealing their money and for what purpose.
The anti-corruption commission is a government agency, and it is manned by Nigerians whose expectation is that its operations should be carried out in the country’s best interest. It is bad enough that the country is now being run with borrowed money and the people are suffering unprecedented hardship as a consequence of corruption in the corridors of power, where the resources that ought to have been used to develop the country are being diverted to private ownership; it will be unpatriotic and unpardonable to hide the identity of the person(s), suspected to be behind the 753 duplexes. While the EFCC can be commended for the recovery, its failure to name the owner is a blot on its efforts. The agency should expose the persons behind the property to pass the transparency test.
Disclosing why it did not reveal the names of the individuals involved in the housing project, the commission reportedly said it would be unprofessional, adding that “substantive criminal investigation on the matter still continues.” A flurry of reactions has trailed the record-breaking recovery, with some people accusing the EFCC of cover-up of the true owners, an accusation the commission dismissed as unacceptable and grossly uncharitable. “The allegation of a cover-up of the identity of the promoters of the Estate stands logic on the head in the sense that the proceedings for the forfeiture of the Estate were in line with Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud Act, which is a civil proceeding that allows for action-in-rem rather than action-in-personam. The latter allows legal actions against a property, not an individual, especially in an unclaimed property. This Act allows you to take up a forfeiture proceeding against a chattel who is not a juristic person. This is exactly what the commission did in respect of the Estate.”
The EFCC went on to state: “The proceedings that yielded the final forfeiture of the Estate were products of actionable intelligence available to the Commission…The company flagged by our investigations denied ownership of the Estate following publications made in leading national newspapers. Based on this, the commission approached the court for an order of final forfeiture, which Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court granted on Monday, December 2, 2024.”
Also praising what it called “the landmark forfeiture”, the EFCC said it was shocking that its critics are not concerned about “the systemic lassitude and unhelpful permissiveness that allowed such a monstrous corrupt act in the first instance,” warning that “Nigerians should gear up for more against lapses and loopholes in our system that continue to make the nation vulnerable to corrupt tendencies.”
The EFCC promised to safeguard the nation’s financial space against manipulators and organised brigandage. “It is important to note that the substantive criminal investigation on the matter still continues”, the commission noted, emphasising that “It will be unprofessional of the EFCC to go to town by mentioning names of individuals whose identities were not directly linked to any title document of the properties.”
By lamenting the societal latitude that permitted the stealing of public funds in large quantities, the commission certainly touched on the kernel of the matter. What made public funds so vulnerable to embezzlement or public resources easily diverted to personal use? What does the government need to do to prevent such fraud henceforth? Knowledge of all these and many more are crucial to safeguarding public funds. This is the time for the government to begin emphasising preventive rather than curative measures to tackle corruption.
The lid may be off in the case of 753 duplexes, but who knows how many such unlawful ventures had escaped public or EFCC scrutiny? Substantial checks and balances are urgently needed in the country’s financial machinery such that anyone attempting to steal even a dime will inadvertently raise the alarm that will end up as his nemesis.
But with more focus on the property and less attention on the owner by the EFCC, Nigeria may be short-changed in blocking the fraudulent activities of its officials. And corruption will thrive while the nation bleeds. According to a source, the inability to establish the owner made EFCC file documents for the forfeiture of the property in court as required of the ‘action-in-rem’, focusing on the property, and that the agency was not out to protect any individual.
No doubt, the EFCC’s investigation will touch all the areas of concern if it has not yet done so. Nigerians, therefore, look forward to full disclosure of the deal, specific ownership of the houses and the propriety of their funding. Nigerians who have been closely following court proceedings regarding the EFCC investigation are aware that three companies were fingered to have been allegedly used to illegally acquire the property, which the agency claimed: “are enmeshed in criminal manoeuvring of layering proceeds of illegal activities.” Many important documents are also believed to have been discovered and presumably valuable for the investigation.
With the information at the disposal of the anti-graft agency, it cannot be excused that it does not know the owner of the duplexes. And there is no reason to continue to hide his or their identity.
The EFCC has an onerous duty to get to the roots of this corruption episode and to carry Nigerians along. It is equally important to interrogate how the country’s financial system permits the squandering of public funds in such a reckless manner. In this regard, the commission’s recommendations will be instructive, just as its collaboration with other government agencies or ministries will be most desirable.
It is lamentable that too many things in the governance of this country are being handled in secrecy, and the people are being denied knowledge of what they have the right to know. Transparency is crucial in representative democracy because it promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what the government is doing. People need to know so they can make informed decisions at the right time. Besides, it is when the government is transparent that the people can indirectly participate in governance by monitoring what the government is doing, to determine whether the country is being properly governed.
Similar happenings in this country are setting Nigeria back in the comity of nations. Till today, the government has failed to expose those sponsoring terrorism that has almost brought the country down, despite the fortune that has been spent to tame the menace for over 15 years; the government has failed to expose those behind the stealing of about 40 per cent of its crude oil to which trillions of naira have been lost, amid intermittent borrowing to run the country; the government has failed to let Nigerians know those who embezzled oil subsidy money, which is one of the reasons it gave for stopping the intervention; the National Assembly has refused to let Nigerians know how much each lawmaker earns, as the figures they reeled out are as many as the number of legislators; the government is executing some road and other projects and keeping the details, including the designs and procurement activities, to itself; obviously to avoid being held accountable; and some information about the fraud in the Humanitarian Ministry that led to the sacking of a minister are still kept away from the citizens.
A few people keep all these secrets in the corridor of power in a democratic government. And now, 753 duplexes built with suspected stolen public funds have been uncovered, and Nigerians do not know those who own the property? It is sad.
It is good that the Head of Media and Publicity in the EFCC, Dele Oyewale, said despite securing a court order forfeiting the property to the Federal Government, criminal investigation on the matter would continue, giving hope that the commission will still establish the owner of the property and publish the name. The anti-graft agency should walk its talk and get to the roots of the case.
Obviously, there are people in government who know the owner of the property, as the building must have been documented at many stages. How can a person make that money in a system and the authorities will feign ignorance?
The government should wake up and make EFCC do its due diligence and tackle corruption with all the seriousness it deserves. Corruption will begin to reduce when culprits are being publicly sanctioned under the law, not when they are being seemingly protected or their identities unduly shrouded in mystery.
The Guardian
