Justice Gabriel Kolawole of the Federal
High Court, Abuja on Friday November 23, 2012 dismissed the application brought
by Mr. Olalekan Bayode seeking to be admitted as a party in the $15 million
Ibori bribe forfeiture matter.
Kolawole while striking out the
application noted that it was completely at variance with the interim order of
court inviting interested parties to show cause why the money should not be
forfeited to the federal government.
“When I read the affidavit, I asked
myself whether they really heard of the opportunity given through the
publication of the interim order. While I readily overlook the misconduct of
the applicant, I cannot understand the conduct his counsel.”
The judge frowned at Barrister Femi
Aina’s conduct which he said leaves much to be desired. “When the order I made
is juxtaposed with the application brought by the intervener’s counsel, which
is professionally hollow, I consider this as a disregard to court process.
Right of access to court must be made judiciously and not frivolously,”
he warned.
With the dismissal of the application,
the coast is clear for the court to consider the claim of the Delta State
government regarding ownership of the money.
Justice Kolawole had on July 24, 2012
granted an interim order of forfeiture of an unclaimed $15m Ibori bribe to the
federal government following an application by the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission, EFCC. In granting the order, the judge upheld the federal
government’s claim that the money “If left untouched and unspent in the state
it was kept in the strong room ( of the CBN) since April 2007, may eventually
be destroyed, defaced, mutilated and become useless.”
Justice Kolawole also ordered that the
interim order should be published in national daily “for anyone who is
interested in the property to appear before the court to show cause within 14
days why the final order of forfeiture should not be made in favour of the
Federal Government of Nigeria.”
That publication triggered a rush of
claimants.
The case had
been adjourned to December 11, 2012 for hearing.
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