A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to immediately release 27 houses wrongly seized by the commission.

Justice Joyce Abdulmalik issued the order while giving judgment in a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/348/2025 filed by the EFCC.

The EFCC had, on 13 March, obtained an ex-parte interim forfeiture order against the 27 properties, which it claimed were acquired from proceeds of unlawful acts.

Following its publication of the interim forfeiture order in the Punch newspaper on 4 April, as ordered by the court, James Ikechukwu Okwete and his company, Jamec West African Limited, claimed ownership of 26 of the properties, while Adebukunola Iyabode Oladapo showed interest in House No. 12, Fandriana Close, Wuse 2, Abuja.

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Okwete, Jamec Ltd, and Oladapo objected to the EFCC’s subsequent application for final forfeiture of the properties and, in a judgment on 31 October, Justice Abdulmalik upheld their objection, dismissed the EFCC’s application for final forfeiture, vacated the earlier order for interim forfeiture, and ordered the commission to immediately release the properties.

In the 31 October judgment, Justice Joyce Abdulmalik said, based on her analysis of the evidence presented before the court, “I firmly find that the property owner/respondent’s (Okwete’s) affidavit to show cause has merit.
“Additionally, I hold in favour of Adebukunola Iyabode Oladapo, being the person interested in House No. 12, Fandriana Close, Wuse 2, Abuja, FCT, that since the learned senior counsel for the applicant (EFCC) has informed court that it has no objection to her affidavit to show cause, that her affidavit filed to show cause stands substantiated in its entirety.

“Without more, I forthwith set aside and vacate in its entirety the interim order of forfeiture granted on 13 March 2025 to the applicant in respect of the properties listed in the schedule attached to the applicant’s ex-parte originating motion.
“Accordingly, I order the immediate release of the aforementioned properties and their documents to the property owner/respondent, and House No. 12, Fandriana Close, Wuse 2, Abuja, FCT, to Adebukunola Iyabode Oladapo respectively.

“In that vein, the applicant’s motion for final forfeiture, along with the corresponding responses filed, are now otiose. I so hold,” Justice Abdulmalik said.
However, the lawyer to Okwete and Jamec Ltd, Serekowei Larry, SAN, has written to the Chairman of the EFCC, complaining about the commission’s alleged failure to comply with the judgment.

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The 27 November letter, written by Larry on behalf of Okwete and Jamec Ltd, reads: “We write as counsel to Mr James Okwete and his company, Jamec West Africa Ltd, ‘the property owners,’ to formally apprise you of the events that have followed this case since 31 October 2025, when judgment was given against you.
“As indicated above, judgment was given by the Federal High Court, coram: Hon. Justice Joyce O. Abdulmalik, on Friday 31 October 2025, in the presence of your counsel, led by Maryam Hayatudeen, Esq.
“On 14 November 2025, the judgment order was served on your good office and nothing was done to obey it.

“On 26 November 2025, the Federal High Court, through its Enforcement Unit led by Mrs Lilian Amenger, proceeded to your office to execute the judgment, which simply required your office to hand over the title documents of the properties, subject matter of the suit, to the officials of the court.

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“In straight words, your office refused to do so, thereby blatantly disobeying the said judgment, which in its penultimate paragraph used the words ‘the immediate release.’

“In any regime, let alone a democracy, it would be the height of it if judgments of court are blatantly disobeyed. We, however, want to believe that you are not aware of what happened; hence this letter.

“We anticipate your positive reaction within a reasonable time before we take further steps.”

The House of Representatives Committee on South South Development Commission (SSDC) has raised alarm over Nigeria’s failure to implement two key Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) funds, saying it has denied the Niger Delta an estimated N1.65 trillion earmarked for environmental cleanup and decommissioning of obsolete oil facilities since 2021.

Chairman of the committee, Hon. Julius Gbabojör Pondi, disclosed this on Tuesday during an interactive session at the National Assembly, which examined the continued dormancy of the Abandonment and Decommissioning Fund and the Environmental Remediation Fund, both mandated under the PIA.

The session brought together representatives from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), SSDC, and the supervising Ministries of Petroleum and Environment, with the aim of establishing a coordinated framework to activate the funds.

According to Pondi, the data presented to the committee indicate that the Abandonment and Decommissioning Fund should have accrued between N850 billion and N1.1 trillion, while the Environmental Remediation Fund should have amassed between N420 billion and N550 billion if properly operationalised since 2021.

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He described the delay as a serious breach of environmental justice and a threat to sustainable development in the Niger Delta, noting that the funds were intended to hold oil and gas companies fully accountable for decommissioning outdated infrastructure and rehabilitating degraded ecosystems.

“These funds were created to prevent the shifting of environmental liabilities to local communities. Yet, four years after the enactment of the PIA, they remain dormant, leaving farmlands polluted, rivers contaminated, fisheries depleted, and communities exposed to health hazards,” Pondi said.

The lawmaker criticised the lack of transparency and operational progress from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), calling it a demonstration of institutional incapacity.

He warned that continued failures could prompt the creation of a new dedicated agency to ensure proper administration of the funds.

Pondi reaffirmed the committee’s commitment to oversight and insisted that legislative instruments must deliver tangible benefits to host communities.

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“The National Assembly cannot continue to look away while environmental liabilities multiply and communities suffer. The era of shifting cleanup responsibilities to impoverished communities must end,” he said.

In other news, drama erupted on the floor of the House of Representatives on Tuesday as the Chairman, House Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream), Alhassan Ado-Doguwa, launched a stinging critique of President Bola Tinubu’s administration over the worsening insecurity across the country.

He declared that Parliament should be shut down if the government fails to restore order and peace in volatile areas.

Doguwa, who spoke during a special plenary session convened to review Nigeria’s national security situation, said the nation was engaged in a full-scale war against humanity, insisting that the government’s best efforts were no longer sufficient.

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While acknowledging ongoing operations by security agencies, the former Majority Leader said President Tinubu’s government had fallen short of its constitutional responsibility to protect lives and property, especially in the North, where he described the situation as devastating, unspeakable and tragically unbearable.

He warned that the deepening security crisis marked by banditry, kidnappings, terrorism and attacks on communities risked derailing political stability ahead of the 2027 general elections, arguing that there was now a “calculated attempt to demoralise the Nigerian state.”

“Mr. Speaker, I am therefore prepared to say that no matter what the government does—my government, led by Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the APC government, my party and despite all the submissions and efforts of the security agencies through their respective chairmen, I want to say that yes, the government is doing its best, the security agencies are doing their best, but with every sense of responsibility and without any fear of equivocation, their best is not good enough.

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“It is not good enough because the security situation in Nigeria today is horrific. Mr. Speaker, our security situation is tragic. The situation, especially in the North where I come from, is devastating.

“Our security situation in Nigeria today is unspeakable. It is unspeakable because our people are left ravaged in tension, fear, and despair, all because we are lacking in institutional and collective responsibility as a government. Mr. Speaker, the fact remains the same.

“I like that everyone of you here says that the responsibility of every democratic or elected government or military governments is fundamentally the security of the lives and property of its own people.

“Mr. Speaker, what we have today is like a failed security system. In my opinion, it is like, to quote the popular Bob Marley in his song from the 1980s, when he was saying: war in the North, war in the West, war in the East, and war down South.”
(GUARDIAN)

The Federal Government has charged the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members across the Northeast sub-region to play an active role in curbing the spread of Small Arms and Light Weapons, SALW, across the region.

Northeast Zonal Director of the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons, (NCCSALW) under the Office of the National Security Adviser to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Maj.-Gen. Abubakar Adamu (Rtd), gave the charge yesterday at the NYSC Orientation Camps in Potiskum, Yobe state and Maiduguri, Borno state.

Maj:-Gen Adamu (Rtd), represented by Mr. Aminu Saleh Mohammed, Assistant Director of Strategic Communication and Information of the Centre, said the active involvement of youth, especially corps members, would significantly help to tackle insecurity.

He explained that the NCCSALW, established in 2021 under the Office of the National Security Adviser, serves as the institutional framework for regulating and controlling Small Arms and Light Weapons in Nigeria.

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While sensitizing the corps members on camp in Yobe state on the dangers of the proliferation of arms and weapons on the society, the Zonal Director said such weapons fuels banditry, kidnapping, cultism, political thuggery, insurgency and other crimes.

“When you get to your places of primary assignment, be good ambassadors of your parents, NYSC, your state and yourself by reporting anyone in possession or involved in the fabrication of small arms and light weapons,” he urged.

According to him, Small Arms and Light Weapons hinders development, increases black marketers of arms and ammunition, causes undue exposure of young people to armed-violence, heightens transborder insecurity, create fears in the minds of the people and many other vices in the society.

He called on all parents and guardians to take full responsibility of good child upbringing in all ramification, educate children on tolerance and peaceful co-existence and warn against violence.

He advised them to also observe and closely monitor behavioral changes for prompt correction.

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Similarly, at the NYSC Orientation camp in Maiduguri, the Centre’s Northeast boss called on scholars and clergymen to teach and sensitize their congregations on the dangers of proliferation of SALW, tolerance and peaceful co-existence.

“They should caution their congregation against the use of illicit SALW, facilitate reconciliation among extremists and victims for successful reintegration and surrendering,” he said.

He also called on the Northeast Coordinators of NYSC to partner with the Centre to establish a Small Arms and Light Weapons Community Development Service (CDS) group in the states, similar to one already operational in Borno.

In their separate reactions, the NYSC Coordinators in Yobe and Borno states, Mr. Edison Ohuoha and Mallam Nasir Bello, welcomed the proposal, assuring that efforts would be made to set up the CDS group to support the campaign.

They promised to work closely with the Centre in order to fight and eradicate the proliferation of illicit small arms and light weapons within the region by carrying out sensitization in strategic locations.