The family of the Army Major-General facing trial over the manner in which between N400 million and N600 million was stolen by some soldiers last year, Hakeem Otiki, has laid claim to $376, 120, (about N136, 155, 440 million) which the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has been seeking is forfeited to the Federal Government.
\nJustice Ijeoma Ojukwu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on Monday heard claims and counter claims over the ownership of the allegedly stolen which was up for final forfeiture to the Federal Government.
\nRecall that the court had earlier issued an interim forfeiture order upon an ex-parte application by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, which required the Commission to publish the order \u00a0in a national daily with a 14 days window for any person who has interest in the money to show cause.
\nAt the resumed hearing on Monday, prosecution counsel, Ekele Iheanacho, told the court that the Commission had complied with the order of the court.
\n\u201cWe have duly complied with the court order by publishing the interim forfeiture order in Leadership Newspaper and we have filed affidavit of compliance to that effect,\u201d he said.
\nBut counsel to the former General Officer Commanding (GOC), 8 Division of the Nigerian Army, Sokoto, Maj.Gen. Hakeem Otiki, Olalekan Ojo, SAN, told the court that his client had filed a motion on February 5, 2020, and deposed to an affidavit to show that the alleged money belonged to him, his company and family.
\nThe affidavit deposed by one Otiki Kaltume Asabe, showed the interested parties in the alleged money as Karama Bureau de Change, Maj. H.O. Otiki, Otiki Kudirat, Otiki Kaltume Asabe, Otiki Zainab, Otiki Abdul and Danest Nigeria Ltd; and as first to seventh interested parties.
\nAsabe, also claimed in her affidavit, that she was a shareholder and a member of Board of Directors of Karama Bureau de Change Ltd and Danest Nigeria Limited (1st and 7th interested parties)
\nShe also stated that her affidavit had approval of the other interested parties as well as the detailed permission of the 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th interested parties, who were fellow shareholders and directors of the first and seventh interested parties.
\nAccording to Asabe, the alleged sum of $376, 120, seized by the EFCC from a Kaduna-based bureau de change operator and a business associate of the first interested party, Aliyu Ado and his son, Aliyu, was money that accrued from the business capital of the first interested party.
\nAccording to her, the money was a legitimate income of the second interested party and other shareholders and also from the business capital of first interested party.
\nThere was however, a twist to the development when counsel to the Nigerian Army (NA), Saleh Abdulaziz, told the court that the said money, rather belonged to the Nigerian Army.
\nMaster Warrant Officer in the Nigerian Army, one Mwo Ato Joseph, in an affidavit to buttress his claim told the court that the Nigeria Army was recovering monies and properties of the 8 Division from all the parties involved in the theft and embezzlement of funds of the division adding that the former GOC Otiki was among the suspect in the alleged fraud.
\nJoseph stated that Otiki assumed duty as G.O.C of 8 Division on March 23, 2019, and received all notices of cash payments and deposits from the NA Finance Corp, Army Headquarters and directed the disbursements and transfers of money within the division.
\n“I know for a fact from my investigations that the sum of $376, 120, which the EFCC seeks to be forfeited to the Federal Government is part of the money released to the officer as the GOC of 8 Division of the Nigerian Army, which same was converted into dollars by Alhaji Ado Aliyu for the officer,\u201d he said.
\nJustice Ojukwu adjourned the matter till April 9, 2010, for hearing of the applicants\u2019 motion on notice on the final forfeiture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The family of the Army Major-General facing trial over the manner in which between N400 million and N600 million was stolen by some soldiers last year, Hakeem Otiki, has laid claim to $376, 120, (about N136, 155, 440 million) which the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has been seeking is forfeited to the Federal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":24853,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[164,1125,1126],"class_list":["post-24854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-efcc","tag-n136m","tag-otiki"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24854\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}