Court vacates forfeiture order on Okorocha’s properties – TheNigerialawyer

A Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt Rivers State has
vacated a forfeiture order secured by the Economic and Financial
Crime Commission (EFCC) on some properties belonging to former Imo
Governor Rochas Okorocha and some members of his family.

The anti-graft agency had early this month obtained the court’s
orders for the interim forfeiture of assets traced to the former
governor, his wife, Nneoma Nkechi and their daughter.

The properties are: “a 16 – block 96 – flat structure and an
eight – bungalow multimillion naira estate, hotel, two schools,
shopping plaza, supermarket, hospital and four vehicles.

“The same were known to those close to the state as, East High
College, East High Academy, Willowood Hotel, House of Freeda, Dews
of Hope hospital and Market Square Supermarket.”

The commission in an earlier statement said it would like to
know how Rochas Foundation and “other accomplices” acquired and or
converted some of the property for personal use.

It alleged that a prima facie cases had been established against
the suspects, which they would answer to.

Vacating the Order, the presiding Judge, Kolawole Omotoso,
lifted the forfeiture order on some of the properties especially
the schools to enable students to resume for the new academic
year.

The court however made another Order restraining the respondents
(Okorocha and family members) from selling any of the properties
pending the conclusion of investigation by the EFCC.

The development followed the submission by Okorocha’s Lawyer,
Okey Amaechi, that the forfeiture order displayed on the school
gates would negatively affect resumption of academic activities in
the new session, insisting that parents would be discouraged to
register their children and wards in the schools.

Meanwhile the EFCC had asked the Court to exclude two of the
properties earlier listed in the forfeiture order after it was
discovered that they were not owned by the former governor or any
of his family members.

I’ve killed 10 People, rustled 100,000 cows,
Abuja-Kaduna kidnapper confesses

A notorious kidnapper, who specializes in abducting innocent
travellers along the dangerous Abuja-Kaduna Expressway, Bello Audu,
has confessed to have so far killed about 10 people since he began
his illicit kidnapping business, last year.

He also disclosed that he and other bandits have rustled about
100,000 cattle in various communities since he relocated to Niger
State from Kajuru, a popular town in Kaduna State.

Audu, 42, made the revelations while been quizzed by a detective
of the Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT).

In the video footage exclusively obtained by PRNigeria^[1], the 42-year old
criminal said he and others, have participated in about 50
kidnapping operations, using AK-47 riffle, among other dangerous
ammunition.

Audu, who added that they collected N3 million each for six of
their abducted victims, said: “We once collected N10, N16, N17, N19
and N20 million, among other amounts for other victims too.”

He further disclosed that their ammunition supplier sells an
AK-47 riffle to them for either N600,000, or N650,000, and
sometimes even N700,000.

“I don’t buy magazines in pieces. I usually order for a
container of magazines, which contains about 900 rounds. And a
round of magazine is sold to us for just N1000,” he said.

The middle-aged kidnapper, who said he has two wives and five
children, noted that he always resort to killing some of his
victims if their relatives refuse to cooperate and quickly pay
ransom for them.

“I may be forced to just eliminate or shot persons I kidnapped
if their relatives speak to me rudely while negotiating for their
ransom,” he said.

The notorious bandit, while revealing that his fellow kidnappers
have several hideouts in Rijana community, along Abuja-Kaduna
highway, said he regretted adopting kidnapping as a source of
livelihood.

Audu, promised to cooperate with the Police to mop up his
weapons, and also fish out other kidnappers and bandits in the two
affected States.

By PRNigeria^[2]