The supreme court has upheld an order of interim forfeiture by a federal high court in Lagos in connection to the $8.4 million reportedly traced to Patience Jonathan, Nigeria’s former first lady.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, had said that it traced the money to her and approached the federal high court through an ex parte application for the order of forfeiture.
In April, justice Mojisola Olatoregun of the federal high, Lagos, granted EFCC the ex parte order.
However, Dame Jonathan filed an appeal before the court of appeal to challenge the competence of the ex parte application filed by the EFCC to request the order of interim forfeiture.
READ ALSO: Candidates Declared Winner Under Duress will not Receive Certificate of Returns – INEC
She also challenged the validity of the order made by the trial court and the constitutionality of section 17 of AFFA.
The court however, dismissed her appeal, prompting her to go to the Supreme court to challenge the order of forfeiture.
In its judgement on Friday, a five-man panel of the court led by Dattijo Muhammad unanimously ruled that the appeal filed by Jonathan was without merit.
It held that the former first lady should go back to the federal high court to explain why the funds should not be permanently forfeited to the federal government.
