14th February, 2022
Twenty landed properties valued at over N3.07 billion belonging to late General Aminu Maude, have been forfeited to the Nigerian government.
The forfeited properties included those owned by affiliated companies such as Atlasfield Integrated Services Nigeria Limited, Marhaba Events Place, Aflac Plastics and Atlasfield Gas Plant Limited.
Justice N. E Maha of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, granted the Order while ruling on the application by counsel to the EFCC, Cosmos Ugwu and Musa Isah.
The Court had in May, 2020 ordered the interim forfeiture of the properties following an ex parte application by the Commission, alleging that the assets were proceeds of unlawful activities.
The court, having considered the application vis-a-vis Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006, more particularly sub-sections 1 and 3 thereof, granted the prayers of the Commission for an interim forfeiture and directed the publication of notices, alerting anyone with interest in the properties to show cause why they should not be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
In the absence of any contestation, the court today ordered the final forfeiture of the properties.
The forfeited properties are located in different parts of Kano, Katsina, Calabar and Kaduna.
They included Fuel Stations, Event Centers, Plazas, Block Industries, Truck Assembly Plant, Polythene Production factory and table water factory.
Among the properties are an undeveloped plot located at Rake, Adjacent to Dara Orthopedic Hospital, Kano valued at N300 million; 117 hectares located at Adiabo, Oduapani LG in Calabar, Cross River State, valued at N386 million.
Others are a truck assembly at Ring Road, adjacent to AA Affa Filling Station, Kano, valued at N206 million, Marhaba Event Centre, Guda Abdulahi Road Farm Centre, Kano valued at N250 million.
Who was General Maude?:
General Aminu-Kano Maude, originally from Kano, died in Abuja on 8 November 2019, after a protracted illness.
He had spent before then about 18 months in Dubai, seeking a medical miracle, which didn’t come.
He was nurtured by a foster dad in Zaria, who enrolled him in a primary school in Tudun Wada, Zaria.
He later went to Nigerian Military School (NMS), Zaria, for his secondary education.
He graduated in 1976.
He then went to the School of Basic Studies (SBS) of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, despite his admission into the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA).
He later got a BSc in accountancy, and was later commissioned into the Army Finance Corps.
In the army, he was once court martialled and convicted.
But this was set aside by the Supreme Court. He was reinstated in the army.
His case: “Brig. Gen. Aminu-Kano vs Nigerian Army”, has become a reference in Nigerian Law Reports.
Not long after his deployment into the finance corps, he enrolled for and obtained an MSc in Accounting and Finance from ABU, and further capped it with a PhD in the same field and from the same institution.
Upon retirement, he became a senior lecturer in accounting in NDA, ABU and the Kaduna State University (KASU).
He was also among others a director in Keystone Bank transition management team and a member of the Presidential Arms Probe Committee, where he might have run into trouble.