EFCC auctions 244 vehicles forfeited by ‘illegal oil dealers’

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has auctioned 244 vehicles forfeited to the federal government.

According to a statement released on the commission’s official Facebook page on Thursday, the vehicles were forfeited by illegal oil dealers.

The auction exercise was flagged off on Thursday by Ola Olukayode, the commission’s secretary, and some other senior officials of the EFCC.

The initial auctioning process took off at the premises of the Police Officers Wives Association (POWA) in the old Government Reservation Area (GRA) in Port Harcourt, Rivers state.

The processes involved allocation of bidding slots to registered auctioneers.

A total of 11 registered auctioneers were shortlisted for the exercise and they include Musa Kura & Co; FSS Nigeria Limited; Auspex Global Services; Jfdor International Limited; JN Enedo Nig. Ltd; Jagsul Nigeria Ltd; Soldap Integrated System; Fagobe Company Ltd; Amijapp Nigeria Ltd, Rihago Auctioning Ltd and Tojugnonyen Auctioneering Co. Ltd.

Representatives of all the shortlisted auctioneers were present to pick slots from an open container publicly displayed at the POWA’s open ground.

Commenting on the bidding slots, two of the shortlisted auctioneers expressed satisfaction with the processes involved in picking the slots.

Seye Morgan, the chief auctioneer for Rihago Auction Limited, commended the EFCC for “running such transparent and credible bidding. We are really surprised at the level of openness and transparency demonstrated in picking slots”.

Torisheju Ugbonyen, another auctioneer, said “the transparency of picking slots compensated for the period of waiting for the processes to commence. EFCC has shown that it is indeed an anti-corruption agency”.

The next process involved in the auction of the vehicles is purchase by interested members of the public.

EFCC said auctioneers have already begun the process by displaying the vehicles on open boards.