Ekweremadu: Former Lawmaker Berates EFCC over Asset Forfeiture Suit

Udora Orizu in Abuja

Former Member of the House of Representatives and legal practitioner, Hon. Kanayo Graham-Burton Oguakwa, has described the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s asset forfeiture suit against former Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, as an “empty and inglorious act of cowardice”.

Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Abuja Federal High Court, had on Friday ordered the interim forfeiture of 40 properties allegedly linked to Ekweremadu. The court also ordered the EFCC to publish the said properties for anybody, which includes Ekweremadu, interested in the properties covered by the order to indicate within 14 days of the publication.

Reacting to the development, the ex-lawmaker lampooned the EFCC, faulting the intent and timing of the legal action.

He called for concerted action by all men and women of goodwill against what he termed a “primitively abhorrent action of pummelling with further blows, a serving public servant who is currently battling for his personal liberty and the honour of his family, in a faraway foreign land”.

He urged the EFCC to withdraw their “presently obnoxious Application for Forfeiture”.

The statement reads, “With regards to crime, it is well known and established that time does not run against the state.  So, this untidy, surreptitious haste in seeking to forfeit the property of ailing Miss Sonia Ekweremadu’s doting father, at a time akin to having one hand tied behind his back, is ill advised, distasteful, and even abhorrent. It is easy to cast slurs or tar across reputations from the safety of administrative offices or the anonymity of social media armchairs. However, remember that, apart from their legitimate, though huge, per quarter allowances and salaries, legislators should have no access to public funds.

“For instance, if a Senator decides to invest his savings in two properties every year, the alleged number of forty could well be within legitimate means for a 20-year tenure. In other words, since a Senator is not a Governor, President, Minister or a Member of the Executive arm, then proof of a crime will not be deduced merely because of an alleged number of property owned. No, there has to be established beyond reasonable doubt, an interference with public finances, which a legislator has no access to, anyway. Therefore, interim forfeiture is a low-hanging fruit in this clime. EFCC will soon have to work up some real sweat when the actual legal brick bats commence”.