400 Cars Seized from Corrupt Government Officials Rotting Away in EFCC Custody

About 400 posh cars believed to have been seized by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from a former Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Tafa Balogun, ex-governors and some prominent businessmen are reportedly now rotting away where they have been abandoned

Besides other assets such as landed properties, shares in blue chip companies, bank accounts, etc. the cars were seized following the Assets Forfeiture Order obtained from a court by the EFCC which was to enable professional property managers use the assets to generate revenue for the Federal Government.

And, in line with this, an Assets Forfeiture Unit was said to have been put in place in 2008 by the commission’s former chairman, Mrs. Farida Waziri, whose mandate was to ensure that all assets forfeited to the Federal Government, through the EFCC, were identified and verified.

Unfortunately, these assets have not been put to any tangible use. The report of the AFU submitted to the commission showed that between 2003 and 2010, the EFCC had seized 203 posh mansions from Politically Exposed Persons, including 15 ex-governors from 46 Forfeiture Court Orders. The landed property and business concerns which were valued at N2tn included 238 bank accounts worth over N500bn, 320 million units of shares in blue-chip companies, 18 firms and 28 plots of land.

Others are 43 vehicles, three fuel stations, four hotels, two warehouses, four shopping complexes, five schools, two bakeries and three estates. Ex-governors who have seized property include, Lucky Igbinedion (Edo); Ayodele Fayose (Ekiti state); Orji Uzor Kalu (Abia state); Rasheed Ladoja (Oyo); Chimaroke Nnamani (Enugu); Boni Haruna (Adamawa); Attahiru Bafarawa (Sokoto); Joshua Dariye (Plateau); Saminu Turaki (Jigawa) and James Ibori (Delta).