The Court of Appeal in Lagos has overturned the final forfeiture of assets belonging to former Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, and ordered a retrial at the Federal High Court.
First News gathered on Monday, June 16, that in a split decision delivered on April 9, 2025, Justices Abdulazeez Anka and Mohammed Mustapha ruled that the forfeiture order made by the Federal High Court on November 1, 2024, lacked adequate evaluation of conflicting evidence.
Among the seized properties were luxury residences and undeveloped land across Lagos and Delta State, including two detached duplexes in Lekki Phase 1, land and buildings in Ikoyi, a duplex on Bank Road, and a construction site on 22 plots in Agbor, Delta State. Also forfeited were $2,045,000 and share certificates in Queensdorf Global Fund Limited.
The EFCC alleged that these properties were acquired through illegal means. But Emefiele, through his lead counsel Olalekan Ojo (SAN), challenged the forfeiture on five grounds.
He argued that the lower court failed to properly evaluate the evidence and that he had shown interest in the properties.
He also questioned the court’s refusal to stay proceedings, the legality of EFCC’s counter-affidavit, and the court’s decision to decline jurisdiction.
Responding, EFCC’s counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), insisted that Emefiele had not provided any proof of how he acquired the assets.
“The appellant did not produce single evidence on how he acquired the forfeited properties but only placed the purported income he received from Zenith Bank and Central Bank before the court and that how he used the funds to acquire the properties were not shown to the court,” Oyedepo stated.
He added that the properties were not in Emefiele’s name but registered under various companies where he had no declared interest.
“The companies in whose names the properties were acquired did not challenge the forfeiture of the properties,” Oyedepo said.
He also accused Emefiele of failing to declare the assets to the Code of Conduct Bureau.
In his lead judgment, Justice Abdulazeez Anka said Emefiele’s earnings appeared sufficient to afford the listed assets.
“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 said.
He added that Emefiele had claimed a severance package of over ₦1.75 billion from Zenith Bank, shares worth ₦500 million, and a ₦350 million annual salary as CBN governor, alongside quarterly reimbursements of ₦75 million and estacodes totalling $6.28 million for foreign trips.
However, Justice Anka noted that both parties presented conflicting claims about the legitimacy of the properties.
“There is in my view a need to call for further oral as well as documentary evidence where possible and for parties to cross-examine the deponents and witnesses,” he ruled.
Justice Anka therefore ordered the case to return to the lower court for a full retrial.
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He upheld the forfeiture of the $2,045,000 to the Federal Government, stating, “The final forfeiture against the said sum of $2,045,000 to the FGN is hereby affirmed.
“From the totality of all I’m stating, the appeal succeeds in part, considering the final forfeiture is set aside while the parties are given the opportunity to call oral evidence at the trial court.”
Justice Mohammed Mustapha concurred. “I am in total agreement with the conclusions arrived, and have little or nothing to add to this impeccable write-up,” he said.
Mustapha also found Emefiele’s earnings adequate to justify the property purchases and observed that it was unreasonable to expect him to have declared 2020 acquisitions in asset forms filled in 2014 and 2019.
“It is absurd, therefore, to expect the appellant to have declared properties acquired in 2020 in forms filled in 2014,” he added.
He further said the pending criminal trial against Emefiele should have preceded the civil forfeiture case.
“In the circumstances therefore, I too allow this appeal in part, the final forfeiture having been set aside, thus affording parties the opportunity of calling witnesses,” he concluded.
However, Justice Danlami Senchi dissented. “I have carefully read through the counter affidavit to the same, there is no conflict in the affidavits that warrant the calling of oral evidence. The issue is very narrow in this case,” he said.
He argued that since Emefiele denied ownership of the companies listed on the property titles, he could not now claim the assets.
“The interested party has denied any links with the companies that purchased the property and so cannot lay claim to what is not his. That would amount to being a meddlesome interloper,” he said.
He concluded that the appeal had no merit and should be dismissed.
“The judgment of the Federal High Court in suit No. FHC/L/MISC/500/2024 delivered on 1st November 2024 by D. I. Dipeolu is hereby affirmed,” Senchi ruled.