EFCC seizes properties worth over N3bn belonging to top military officer

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says it has seized properties worth over N3 billion belonging to a Nigerian “top military officer”.

The financial crimes agency in a Facebook post on its official page on Monday said it has secured the final forfeiture of 20 landed properties valued at over N3,007,000,000 belonging to an unnamed top military officer but controlled through proxies.

The proxies, according to EFCC, included late General Aminu Maude as well as companies such as Atlasfield Integrated Services Nigeria Limited, Marhaba Events Place, Aflac Plastics and Atlasfield Gas Plant Limited.

RELIABLESOURCENG.COM investigation shows that one Aminu-Kano Maude and two others – Tanimu Inusa Abdullahi and Hassan Abubakar Nalaraba – are all listed as Directors and Shareholders of Atlasfield Integrated Limited, a company registered on September 7, 2016 with registration number RC 1360047.

Going by the picture published by the EFCC, Maude was dressed in a Nigerian Army uniform which bore the rank of a Brigadier-General – three stars and an eagle.

While Maude was listed as being allotted with 30,000,000 shares in the company, both Abdullahi and Nalaraba were allotted with 10,000,000 shares, each.

The same set of three names appeared also in Aflac Plastics and Atlasfield Integrated Group of Companies Limited where the names (now slightly altered) were listed as representing various interests in the list of companies named by the EFCC.

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EFCC, in its post, said Justice N. E Maha of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, granted the order while ruling on the application by counsel to the EFCC, Cosmos Ugwu and Musa Isah.

According to the EFCC post, “The court had in May, 2020 ordered the interim forfeiture of the properties following an ex parte application by the commission, alleging that the assets were proceeds of unlawful activities.

“The court, having considered the application vis-a-vis Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006, more particularly sub-sections 1 and 3 thereof, granted the prayers of the Commission for an interim forfeiture and directed the publication of notices, alerting anyone with interest in the properties to show cause why they should not be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

“In the absence of any contestation, the court today (February 14, 2022) ordered the final forfeiture of the properties.

“The forfeited properties, situated on lands valued at over N3,007,000,000 (Three Billion and Seven Million Naira) are located in different parts of Kano, Katsina, Calabar (Cross River State) and Kaduna. They included Fuel Stations, Event Centres, Plazas, Block Industries, Truck Assembly Plant, Polythene Production factory and table water factory. “Some of the properties include undeveloped plot located at Rake, Adjacent to Dara Orthopaedic Hospital, Kano, valued at N300,000,000 (Three Hundred Million Naira); 117 hectares of land located at Adiabo, Oduapani LG, covered by Certificate of Occupancy No. OD/23/2011, dated 21/2/ 2011 in Calabar, Cross River State, valued at N386,000,000 (Three Hundred and Eighty Six Million Naira); Truck Assembly at Ring Road, adjacent to AA Affa Filling Station, Kano, valued at N206,000,000 (Two Hundred and Six million Naira) and Marhaba Event Centre, Guda Abdulahi Road Farm Centre, Kano, valued at N250,000,000 (Two Hundred and Fifty Million naira).”