EFCC hands over houses, transmission equipment, other recovered assets to Enugu govt

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on Wednesday, handed over assets recovered from convicted fraudsters to the Enugu State Government.

Enugu State Governor, Peter Mbah, received the properties on behalf of the state government at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja.

Handing over the assets, EFCC chairman, Ola Olukoyede, recalled that journey to the recovery started in 2007, when the commission began the prosecution of the fraudsters, a statement by the commission said on Wednesday.

“If you look at the history of this particular matter, it takes us back to 2007 when we started the prosecution. So we are looking at about 17 years since the matter has been on. Eventually some of the properties were forfeited and since then, the EFCC has been managing those properties even though the titles of quite a number of the properties have been revoked by the Enugu State government.

“What we are witnessing here today is the official handing over of the properties to the people of Enugu State through His Excellency, Dr Peter Mba,” Mr Olukoyede said.

The EFCC statement signed by the commission’s spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, listed the recovered assets to include houses and transmission equipment for radio and television stations.

They also include a building for medical operations, among others

Further details of the assets were not given in the statement.

But Mr Olukoyede recalled that the assets were initially forfeited to the federal government after a successful prosecution of the looters. The identities of the convicted looters were also not revealed by the commission.

Therefore, the EFCC chairman said, returning them to the state government spoke to “the mutually beneficial relationship existing between the federal government and states”.

“What we are witnessing today testifies to a symbiotic relationship that should exist between the federal government and the state governments,” he said. “It shows that governance can work in Nigeria. Our people deserve the benefits of good governance and that is what is being evidenced here today.”

Not the first time

It was not the first time EFCC would return to statement governments the assetd it had helped them to recover.

In 2009, the commission announced the return of the loot recovered from the convicted former Bayelsa State Governor, the late Diepreye Alamieyeseigha to the state.

Similarly in 2019, the commission presented N112 million recovered from treasury looters to the Kwara State Governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq.

Agencies of the federal government, academic institutions, as well as individuals – Nigerians and foreigners alike – have also benefitted from such assets recoveries by the EFCC.

Governor Mbah reacts

Earlier in his remarks, Governor Ubah expressed gratitude for the handover and thanked the EFCC chair and the Commission for ensuring that the people of his state reclaimed their common patrimony.

“I would like to express my profound gratitude for the event we are witnessing today. The importance and significance of this event can never be lost on us and we do not also take it for granted. So I want to take this opportunity to convey my profound gratitude and deep appreciation to the chairman and members of the EFCC team that have brought us to where we are today. This is a journey that began several years ago and we are marking a formal closure to that journey here today. A journey that saw the successful prosecution of certain companies in possession of assets belonging to the people of Enugu State,” Mr Mbah said.

The governor, who noted that the properties were forfeited not to his state but to the federal government, expressed gratitude to President Bola Tinubu for making it possible for them to be returned to the government and people of Enugu State.

“Those assets were forfeited to the federal government. And this brings me to another gratitude that I want to convey here today. I want to acknowledge and recognize the important role played by the President, His Excellency Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Without the proactiveness and speed at which he acted on our request to cede these assets back to the people and government of Enugu State, we wouldn’t have been here today. So I want to thank him most sincerely for granting our request for these assets that were forfeited to the federal government to be ceded back to Enugu State.”

He lauded Olukoyede’s initiatives at making the EFCC a strong institution and cautioned against attempts by some individuals to distract the commission.

“I will not end this remark without acknowledging the work the EFCC chairman is doing in strengthening this very important institution. It is important that we do not weaken our institutions. Whatever we do in governance is transient. So I want to commend him for the efforts he is making in ensuring that this very important institution, the EFCC is strengthened. Thank you very much for all the great work you and your team are doing and particularly for the effort that you have put in to make today a reality,” the governost said.