Abuja Court Rejects Emefiele’s Bid to Retrieve 753 Forfeited Duplexes Amid Heated Legal Battle

Court Blocks Emefiele's Efforts to Reclaim Seized Abuja Estate

Godwin Emefiele, the former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, just ran into a legal brick wall. A high-profile court case against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) ended with a big win for the government and a major headache for Emefiele. The controversy surrounds a massive set of 753 duplexes in Abuja’s Lokogoma District. The court said no to Emefiele’s efforts to get the property back, ruling the EFCC had every right to seize it.

This all started when the EFCC linked these houses to alleged illicit activities during Emefiele’s stint as CBN boss. At first, rumors circled that someone else was behind the properties, but as investigators dug deeper, Emefiele’s name came up. The anti-graft agency got a court order to seize the entire estate, and that's when things got complicated.

Emefiele’s legal team, led by A.M. Kotoye, fought back hard. Their big gripe? They said the whole forfeiture was unfair. Kotoye claimed that Emefiele never got a fair chance to react because the EFCC published their legal notice in a tucked-away section of a national newspaper. If you weren’t flipping through every page, you’d never know what was at stake. Meanwhile, Emefiele himself was tangled in three ongoing criminal cases—two in Abuja, one in Lagos—so his attention was already stretched thin. He argued he simply never saw the warning that his properties were up for grabs.

Legal Fireworks and a Pending Appeal

The judge didn’t buy those arguments. At an April 2025 hearing, the court made it clear: the EFCC's methods were above board. The published notice did the job, the judge said, and was ‘not hidden’ as Emefiele’s team claimed. Essentially, the court told Emefiele, ‘You had a chance to speak up, and proper procedures were followed.’

The former CBN boss isn’t letting it go. He’s already filed an appeal, holding firm that his rights were trampled. His new legal filings paint a dramatic picture, picking apart the court’s earlier decision and accusing the EFCC’s case of leaning on ‘hearsay, suspicion, and no proper evidence’. Emefiele says he not only legally owns the sprawling complex, but also holds what lawyers call ‘equitable interest’—meaning he claims rights beyond the paperwork.

While this legal tug-of-war plays out, there’s another twist: the Federal Government wants to auction off the 753 duplexes as soon as possible. But it's a waiting game until the appeals court rules. Whether these homes eventually hit the open market—or boomerang back to Emefiele—depends on how the next chapter of this bold property saga unfolds. For now, Abuja’s real estate scene is watching closely, and so is anyone tracking the ongoing fight between Nigeria’s financial elite and anti-corruption enforcers. It’s a story packed with high stakes, legal fireworks, and big buildings—and it’s far from over.