EFCC obtains interim order allowing it to seize 40 of Ike Ekweremadu's properties

FORMER deputy senate president Senator Ike Ekweremadu currently detained in the UK as he faces human trafficking charges is facing more woes as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is looking to seize 40 properties his allegedly acquired illegally.

In June, Senator Ekweremadu and his wife Beatrice were arrested by London's Metropolitan Police on suspicion of child trafficking and planned organ harvesting. They were charged before Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court with conspiracy to arrange/facilitate travel of another person with a view to exploitation, namely organ harvesting.

Both of them were denied bail at the time and were remanded in custody until the case were heard again on July 26 at the Westminster Magistrates Court, when Beatrice was released but her husband was denied bail. In the first such case of its kind involving Nigerians, the Ekweremadus were accused of conspiring to traffic a homeless man into the UK to harvest his kidney for their daughter.

Senator Ekweremadu, was charged with conspiracy to arrange or facilitate travel of another person with a view to exploitation, namely organ harvesting. When the case was last heard on August 4 at the Old Bailey where it has been moved to, Obinna Obeta, a practising Nigerian medical doctor in London, appeared alongside the couple.

Making matters worse for Senator Ekweremadu, the EFCC had just secured a high court order for an interim forfeiture of 40 landed property belonging to him. Justice Inyang Ekwo made the order yesterday following an ex-parte motion filed and moved by Ibrahim Buba on behalf of the commission, ordered the EFCC to publish the interim forfeiture order of the properties in a national daily within seven days.

He specifically directed that anybody who had an interest in the forfeited property to indicate within 14 days of the publication of the interim forfeiture order why the assets should not be permanently forfeited. Justice Ekwo then adjourned the matter until December 5 for a report, in case there was any objection from members of the public regarding the properties.

This interim forfeiture order covers 10 properties in Enugu, three in the US, two in the UK, one in Lagos, nine in Dubai and 15 in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. As far back as 2018, the EFCC had grilled Senator Ekweremadu over the two UK properties, claiming they were not included in his assets declaration forms dated June 1, 2007 and June 1, 2015.

However, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria has criticised the move by the EFCC, saying the asset forfeiture lawsuit at a time when Senator Ekweremadu was in custody and unable to defend himself or properly brief his lawyers was malicious, immoral, in bad faith and tantamount to a country throwing her citizen under the bus. Huriwa coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, added that is happening at a time when the EFCC joined forces with the London Metropolitan Police to keep Senator Ekweremadu imprisoned despite his efforts to bail obtain bail.