Court Orders Final Forfeiture of ₦150m Linked to Rep

On a recent date, the Federal High Court sitting in Maitama, Abuja, issued a final forfeiture order for ₦150 million connected to Nicholas Mutu, a member of the House of Representatives from Delta State. The court, presided over by Justice J.O.

Abdulmalik, upheld an application filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which argued that the funds were linked to corrupt activities involving Mutu during his tenure as chairman of the House Committee on Niger Delta Development Commission. The EFCC claimed that Mutu allegedly received kickbacks related to a ₦400 million consultancy contract with the Niger Delta Development Commission.

The court determined that there was no convincing explanation provided by Mutu to justify why the funds should not be permanently forfeited to the federal government. An interim order had previously been granted against the funds, and the court directed that the order be published in a national newspaper to allow interested parties to challenge the application.

However, the public expiration period did not yield sufficient cause to halt the permanent forfeiture.