A federal high court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, has granted the request of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to seize all but one of the properties belonging to Government Ekpemupolo, a former militant popularly known as Tompolo.
Ibrahim Buba, the presiding judge, gave the order after Tompolo again failed to show up in court to honor a summons on fraudulent land contract for the construction of the Nigerian Maritime University. On Wednesday, EFCC had filed a motion before the court, seeking to freeze Tompolo’s assets.
The commission had already declared him wanted, following two bench warrants issued against him by the court. The anti-graft agency accused him and nine others of diverting and converting N46 billion belonging to the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA). But Tompolo denied the allegation, accusing the federal government of witch-hunting him for refusing to join the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
On Friday, Buba granted the application to “seize all the properties belonging to Tompolo except all properties of Global WestVessel Specialist Ltd”. Festus Keyamo, counsel to EFCC, told the court that the efforts of all security agencies to arrest Tompolo had yielded no result, as they were yet to get hold of the first accused person. “The accused person Tompolo failed to appear again and we brought and application for the seizure of all his properties as provided for by law,” he said.
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