By Yusuf Mutiu-Olaitan
August 21st, 2024
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has refuted the claim that the forfeited assets of former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Godwin Emefiele, has been shared among its officials and cabinet members of President Tinubu administration.
This followed an online report that EFCC had shared N54 billion retrieved by some associates of Emefiele, among its officials and ministers.
EFCC spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, describes the report of the forfeited funds as ‘mischievous’ and one made ‘out of ignorance’.
He said: “No official of the Commission was, or has ever been involved in the “sharing” of any proceeds of forfeited assets. The notion of “sharing of proceeds of forfeited assets” is strange to the Commission.
“The sensational report which was promoted ostensibly to scandalise the agencies mentioned, betrays the author’s ignorance of the existing asset recovery and management framework.
“Both the EFCC Act, 2004 and the Proceeds of Crime (Recovery and Management) Act, 2022, are unambiguous in terms of the accounts into which proceeds of forfeited assets are to be paid.
“There is no ‘platform’ for the ‘sharing of forfeited assets’; the notion itself being infantile.”