TheCable

Patience Jonathan, former first lady, has lost more money to the federal government after the supreme court affirmed another order of the Lagos division of the federal high court for the interim forfeiture of a sum of N2.4 billion allegedly traced to her.

The development comes barely eight days after the apex court had upheld an order for the federal government’s interim seizure of the $8.4 million believed to be owned by the ex-first lady.

The supreme court had also directed her to return to the lower court in Lagos to explain why the fund should not be permanently forfeited to the federal government.

In a judgment on Friday, a five-man panel of the apex court rejected the appeal by Lawari Furniture and Bath Limited, a firm which the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), had linked to the former first lady, on the grounds that it was without merit.

The appeal was filed and argued for the appellant by Mike Ozekhome. The EFCC had said the various funds were suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities.

But in the lead judgment, read by Sidi Bage, on behalf of Amiru Sanusi, who was not present, the apex court held that there was no justification to “interfere with the concurrent findings of the two lower courts.”

The court, in the lead judgment, said it would only interfere with concurrent decisions of the lower courts only when “there is a special circumstance where the decision is perverse or there is misapplication of law or the facts”.

The supreme court also rejected the argument by the appellant who faulted the interim order of forfeiture obtained by the EFCC through an ex-parte motion, and prayed that it be set aside.