The Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) has claimed the ownership of the 46 property seized from the agency’s former Chairman, Ngozi Olejeme, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The 46 property, including houses and parcels of land are located in states like Bayelsa, Delta, Edo and Abuja.
Justice Taiwo Taiwo, had on July 1, granted the ex-parte application by the EFCC for temporary forfeiture of the identified property.
Justice Taiwo directed the EFCC to publish the order in a national daily to enable anyone who is interested in the affected property to show cause, within 14 days, why the assets should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.
When the case came up before Justice Taiwo, the management of the NSITF, through its Counsel, Okereke Ezechi, appeared before the court to claim ownership of the property.
Ezechi, who filed a motion to that respect, urged the court to pass the property to NSITF should they be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.
He said that NSITF was the principal victim of the alleged crimes purportedly committed by Olejeme, who served as the chairman of the agency’s management board between 2009 to 2015.
The lawyer stated that the property suspected to have been acquired by Olejeme, through proceeds of crime, were allegedly acquired with funds stolen from NSITF.
Ezechi, in a supporting affidavit, claimed that N62 billon was received during Olejeme’s tenure, but was allegedly diverted trough phoney contracts.
