Court Orders Final Forfeiture Of Assorted Minerals To FG In Kwara

Justice Olukayode Ariwoola (Jnr) of the Federal High Court sitting in Ilorin has ordered the final forfeiture of a truckload of assorted solid minerals to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

Delivering ruling on an application filed by the Ilorin Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Justice Ariwoola held that the applicant had sufficiently convinced the court on the grounds for the forfeiture.

Moving the application on Tuesday, EFCC counsel, Sesan Ola, told the court:
“My Lord, our application seeks a final order of this Honourable Court forfeiting to the Federal Government of Nigeria the truck with registration number PKA216YR and the minerals contained therein, which came into the possession of the applicant as unclaimed property.”

Ola said the EFCC relied on Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006, and Section 44(2)(b) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

In a 17-paragraph affidavit in support of the motion, deposed to by Jesse Chong, an EFCC operative, the Commission stated that it had gathered intelligence in June 2024 indicating that certain individuals were engaged in illegal mining, purchase, and possession of solid minerals within Kwara State.

The EFCC further told the court that the owner of the truck and its 30-ton cargo of solid minerals failed to present themselves for investigation, even after an interim forfeiture order was published in a Newspaper publication.

In his ruling, Justice Ariwoola held that the Commission had provided sufficient grounds for the final forfeiture and accordingly granted the application as prayed.