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Court orders permanent forfeiture of $49,700 seized from ex-INEC commissioner
The Federal High Court in Abuja, presided over by Justice Emeka Nwite, has issued a permanent forfeiture order for $49,700 that was seized from Nura Ali, who previously served as INEC’s Resident Electoral Commissioner in Sokoto during the 2023 general elections.
The order was issued after the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) submitted a motion to the court.
ICPC’s legal representative, Osuobeni Akponimisingha, informed the court during the proceedings that the commission had fulfilled the requirements of a previous interim order directing the temporary forfeiture of the seized amount.
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According to him, a public notification was distributed inviting anyone with interest to provide reasons why the funds should remain in private hands rather than being forfeited to federal authorities as the court had directed.
Akponimisingha noted that following the publication, nobody had stepped forward to make a claim on the funds or presented themselves in court to challenge the forfeiture proceedings.
Justice Nwite found the application to have merit when delivering his judgment.
“I have listened to the submission of the learned counsel to the applicant and I have also gone through the affidavit evidence. I am of the view that the application is meritorious. Consequently, the application is granted,” the judge ruled.
The court had issued a temporary forfeiture order on December 30, 2024, after receiving an ex parte motion from the ICPC and Department of State Services (DSS).
The motion requested a temporary forfeiture order for the money that was discovered at Ali’s home when DSS officers conducted a search.
Additionally, the motion asked that both agencies be permitted to carry out a preliminary investigation into Ali’s conduct and provide their findings within 90 days.
The agencies received instructions to place the money in a CBN escrow account and issue a public announcement allowing interested parties to explain why permanent forfeiture should not proceed.
In the supporting affidavit, the applicant argued that the funds were suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activity.
According to the ICPC, staff members do not receive salary payments in foreign currency from INEC, and the application aimed to safeguard the funds from being dispersed while investigations continued.
Iliya Markus, an ICPC litigation officer who deposed to the supporting affidavit, stated that DSS operatives found the money at Ali’s Kano residence during a search conducted under a warrant executed by both agencies working together.
According to Markus, Ali acknowledged in his extra-judicial statement that he had received $150,000 from former Sokoto governor Aminu Tambuwal and Aliyu Wamakko, claiming it was a gift.
Markus also mentioned that Ali had submitted a written request to the DSS for the return of the seized money.
The affidavit further stated that the funds were not declared to any law enforcement agency as required by law.
Following the interim order, the court set January 30, 2025, as the date for receiving a compliance report regarding the publication requirement, and March 31, 2025, for the hearing.
Since no one came forward to contest the forfeiture, the court has now directed that the $49,700 be permanently transferred to the Federal Government.
The echoes of the drums rolled out to celebrate the rescue of the 44 teachers and students, kidnapped from some schools in Oyo State, after 56 days in the bush, would surely be disrupted abruptly, with the divergent echoes of a fresh abduction, this time coming from Kogi State.
Reports indicate that the gunmen, struck on Tuesday at the Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, in Dekina Local Government Area of the state, abducting four students, the school principal and a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc staff member.
Authorities of the Kogi State Police Command, who immediately unleashed their operatives in hot pursuit of the abductors, said the attack occurred at about 5:25 p.m. while the students were writing their NECO examination.
Saliu Oyiza Afusat, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and spokesman of the command, said a combined team of police personnel and other security agencies has launched a search-and-rescue operation following the incident.
Informing that one of the students was actually rescued immediately, she said efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers, adding that Naziru Bello Kankarofi, the state Commissioner of Police, alongside the Brigade Commander and the State Security Adviser to the Governor, Commodore Jerry Omodara (Rtd), were already on the way to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.
Oil prices are expected to go down now with the announcement of Donald Trump, US President that he will no longer impose a 20 percent “safe passage” fee on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The POTUS, hinged his reversal of the decision on the intervention from some Gulf countries, who pleaded with him not to toe the line due to the massive economic impact the decision would make on the region.
Indeed, oil prices had shot up immediately Trump announced the new levy on Monday while declaring the US ‘the guardians of the Hormuz strait,’ a measure which he said was to pay for the cost of guarding the volatile area in order keep supply of oil flowing.
Reports said that Gulf allies of the US worked frantically to get Trump on the phone in time to talk him out of the idea altogether, while a flurry of appeals came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
In response, the POTUS, posting on his Truth Social platform, wrote: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”
Trump, who said the investments would be “MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” added that the deals would see factories, plants, and equipment pour into the US at “Historic levels.”
The Gulf nations have committed to invest trillions of dollars in the US, though it remains unclear how much of that they will actually spend over the next several years.
Meanwhile, the US continues to bomb Iran in what appears to be a resumption of active conflict between both countries, despite an ongoing roadmap to end the conflict.
Reports say operatives of the Osun State Police Command, and those of the Department of State Services (DSS) had tracking the trail of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), for weeks, before he was eventually pulled out of his hole on Tuesday.
However, the duo, were said to have pulled back after failing to track him through his mobile phones, which he had reportedly switched off for about two days, making it difficult to locate him, leaving the stage for the members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (PI-RT) led by Moses Lohor, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
Lohor, said to have previously served as the Commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Osun State, and reported to have been involved in high-profile security operations and controversies, after taken over fielded his men to pick up signals from their well-oiled signal networks.
Regarded by many Osun residents as one of the key security officers who contributed significantly to the peace and stability enjoyed in Ilesa and other parts of the state during his tenure, he was said to have relied on his contacts before his transfer out of the state, said to have raised concerns from the public about the security situation he would be leaving behind.
His exit from the state was said to be hinged on an incident in 2024, in which he allegedly shot one Iyanda Alowonle, then Chairman of Osun State Motor Transport System, in the stomach at the police station in the state prompting an order for his arrest by then Inspector General of Police (IGP).
His effort was said to have paid off when he successfully tracked down the controversial PFIPC, boss, who was seen on Tuesday evening, in a shot video on social media undergoing interrogation, and eventually handed him over to Ibrahim Gotan, Commissioner of Police in the state.
The PUNCH quoted one of the sources as saying: “The arrest (of Adeyemi) took place on Tuesday morning by the IRT squad, who immediately moved him to Abuja. After he was arrested, he was taken to Ibadan and from there to Abuja.”
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