Court orders forfeiture of Yakubu’s $9.8m to FG

By Adetutu Folasade-Koyi

Four days after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) recovered $9, 772, 800 alleged loot from a former group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Andrew Yakubu, a Federal High Court in Kano, presided over by Justice Zainab B. Abubakar, has ordered its forfeiture to the Federal Government.

The court also ordered forfeiture of another £74,000 recovered from a safe hidden in a Kaduna house, which belongs to Yakubu.

The order was sequel to an ex parte application by the EFCC, seeking interim forfeiture of the money. 

In her ruling, Justice Abubakar held that “$9,772,000 and £74,000, which are now in the custody of the applicant (EFCC) are, in the interim, forfeited to the federal government of Nigeria.”

On Friday, February 3, 2017, EFCC operatives stormed a building in Kaduna, belonging to Yakubu and recovered $9,772,000 and £74,000 stashed in a huge fire proof safe.

Five days after, Yakubu reported to the Commission’s Kano Zonal Office where he admitted  ownership of both the house and the money recovered and, in a statement, claimed the money was gift from persons he refused to name. Yakubu also admitted that £74, 000 pounds was recovered from him and he is still in custody assisting EFCC in its investigation.

EFCC Head of Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren said a special operation conducted by operatives discovered the cash was hidden in a fire-proof safe.

Uwujaren said the surprise raid of the facility was sequel to an intelligence report which the commission received about suspected proceeds of crime believed to be hidden in the slums of Sabon Tasha area of Kaduna.

He said on arrival at the facility, caretaker of the house, one Bitrus Yakubu, a younger brother to Andrew, disclosed that both the house and the safe where the money was found belonged to his brother.

Yakubu was NNPC’s GMD between 2012 and 2014.