Andrew Yakubu, ex-NNPC GMD, sues EFCC, CBN over refusal to release seized $9.8m

Andrew Yakubu, former group managing director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), has sued the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), over an alleged refusal to release his $9.8 million after a court judgment acquitted him of fraud charges.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) are also respondents in the suit, filed at a federal high court in Abuja.

On February 3, 2017, operatives of the EFCC raided the property of the former NNPC chief in Kaduna and recovered the sum of $9.8 million, and £74,000 stashed in a fire-proof safe.

He was alleged to have omitted the monies from the EFCC asset declaration form given to him to fill in 2015.

Yakubu was arraigned before Ahmed Mohammed, a judge, on March 16, 2017, on a six-count charge bordering on money laundering and false declaration of assets.

However, in March 2022, the judge, discharged and acquitted Yakubu of the charges.

In the originating summons, marked, FHC/ABJ/CS/231/2023, and filed before Inyang Ekwo, another judge, Yakubu through his counsel, Ahmed Raji, is asking the court to determine whether the EFCC ought to still have in its custody his seized monies after the judgment.

He is praying the court for an order directing the defendants to immediately release the monies to him pending the determination of the EFCC’s appeal.

Alternatively, Yakubu wants an order directing the defendants to immediately transfer the said monies into an account under the control of the federal high court’s chief registrar or into an account to be operated by the chief registrar, the EFCC, and him — pending the determination of the appeal.

But the EFCC, in a notice of preliminary objection, prayed the court to dismiss Yakubu’s application.

Faruk Abdullah, EFCC counsel, said the suit was an abuse of court process, adding that the court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the matter owing to appeals pending before superior courts.

In an affidavit supporting the motion, the EFCC said most of Yakubu’s depositions did not reflect the correct position of the case.

The matter has been adjourned to May 18 for hearing.