A staff of the Budget Office of the Federation, Henry Ilemona Oyibo have been ordered by a Federal High Court in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to forfeit property worth N209 million to the independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
According to a statement signed by the spokesperson of the commission, Rasheedat Okoduwa, Justice Muawiyah Idris of the High Court sitting in Nyanya, Abuja granted the order.
According to the ICPC, the properties include a shopping mall, known as Jerijo Plaza and Event Centre, located at No. 6 Muham Street, Off Abacha Road, Karu, Nasarawa State, believed to have been acquired with the proceeds of crime.
The ICPC said Oyibo’s travails started when the commission profiled him as a result of an investigation into another matter.
The anti-graft agency said investigation further revealed that he could not have acquired the property from his legitimate income.
According to the statement, the application for an order of interim forfeiture on the property was granted on October 17, 2018.
The court then adjourned the matter to November 5, 2018, for ‘’interested persons to show cause why the property should not be finally forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.”
On the adjourned date, the ICPC said, Justice Idris found no merit in the separate affidavits of the respondents and consequently ruled for final forfeiture of the property to the Federal Government.
“Interested persons’ including the respondent and his brother, Raymond Oyibo, ‘showed cause’, but this was countered by the Commission in an affidavit stating that the respondents had not shown ‘good cause’ for the court to vacate the interim forfeiture order, and the matter was again adjourned to 18th June 2019.”
