Lagos appeal court reverses final forfeiture order of assets belonging to Godwin Emefiele, former Central Bank of Nigeria governor.
On November 1, 2024, Judge Deinde Dipeolu of a Lagos federal high court ordered the permanent forfeiture to the federal government of funds and assets belonging to Emefiele, including $2.045 million, seven prime properties, and two share certificates of Queensdorf Global Fund Limited Trust.
The assets were reasonably believed to have been purchased with the proceeds of illegal activities.
The forfeited properties include two identical fully detached duplexes located at 17b Hakeem Odumosu Street, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos; an undeveloped plot of land measuring 1919.592 sqm with Survey Plan No. DS/LS/340 at Oyinkan Abayomi Drive, Ikoyi, Lagos.
Others properties forfeited are; a bungalow at 65a Oyinkan Abayomi Drive, Ikoyi, Lagos; and a four-bedroom duplex at 12a Probyn Road, Ikoyi; an industrial complex under construction on 22 plots of land in Agbor, Delta state; eight units of an undetached apartment on a plot measuring 2457.60sqm at No. 8a Adekunle Lawal Road, Ikoyi, and a duplex together with all its appurtenances on a plot of land measuring 2217.87sqm at 2a Bank Road, Ikoyi, Lagos.
Unsatisfied with the high court’s ruling, Emefiele, through his lawyer Olalekan Ojo, contested the final forfeiture order and raised five key issues, including whether the trial judge thoroughly assessed all affidavit evidence before granting the EFCC’s motion for final forfeiture.
Rotimi Oyedepo, EFCC counsel, argued that the appellant failed to provide evidence of how he acquired the forfeited properties, instead only presenting his purported income from Zenith Bank and Central Bank without showing how the funds were used to acquire the properties.
Oyedepo stated that Emefiele failed to provide any evidence of legitimate fund transfers to the property sellers. He also pointed out that the properties were not acquired in Emefiele’s name, but rather in the names of various companies, of which Emefiele is not a shareholder or director.
“The companies in whose names the properties were acquired did not challenge the forfeiture of the properties,” Oyedepo added.
On April 9, 2025, a two-to-one majority of the three-member appellate court panel overturned the trial court’s decision and ordered a new trial in the lower court. In his majority judgment, Abdulazeez Anka stated that the court was convinced the appellant’s legitimate income was sufficient to acquire the properties.
“These funds are the legitimate earnings of the appellant as provided and the contention of the appellant as I do comprehend is that from his earnings from the days he was at Zenith Bank up to his career as CBN governor for 10 years in office, he can be able to afford the said properties in contention,” Anka held.
“In effect, the court hereby sets aside the final forfeiture order made by the trial court of 1st November 2024.”
Anka observed that the appellant did not dispute the forfeiture of $2,045,000 to the federal government. Consequently, he ruled that the final forfeiture of the said sum to the FGN is affirmed.
However, considering the totality of the evidence, the appeal is partially successful, and the final forfeiture is set aside.
The parties are given the opportunity to present oral evidence at the trial court. The case is remitted to the trial court for a rehearing.
