Court Orders Forfeiture of N449m Found in BDC Shop to FG

The Federal High Court in Lagos on Wednesday ordered the temporary forfeiture of the sum of N449,750,000 found in an abandoned Bureau de Change shop in Victoria Island by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.The forfeiture order was made by Justice Rilawan Aikawa following an ex parte application taken before him by the anti-graft agency.An investigator with the EFCC, Moses Awolusi, said in the affidavit filed before the judge that the shop numbered LS64, located on at Legico Shopping Plaza, at Victoria island, Lagos had not been opened for two years.Awolusi said the money was found on April 7, 2017 in several “Ghana Must Go” sacks, adding that the EFCC recovered the money after investigating intelligence information received on one Mohammed Tauheed.According to the investigator, Tauheed allegedly conspired with the owner of the abandoned shop to launder the money.Awolusi said Tauheed had earlier been brought to the EFCC office by the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of Legico shopping Plaza, Mr. Sulaiman Daba and Alhaji Ishaq Ayandiran , respectively.He said during the visit, Tauheed told the anti-graft agency that he received the money in cash from a serving government official, whose name was not disclosed for security reasons.He said Tauheed, in the presence of his lawyer, later agreed to return the money to the Federal Government, which is the rightful owner of the funds strongly suspected to the proceeds of criminal activities of the unnamed serving government official.
The EFCC said it would be in the interest of justice for the court to order the temporary forfeiture of the money to the Federal Government.After entertaining the application on Wednesday, Justice Aikawa ordered that the N449,750,000 should be temporarily forfeited to the Federal Government.
He ordered the EFCC to advertise the order in a national newspaper and gave 14 days for any interested party to appear in court to give reasons why the money should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.The judge adjourned the matter till May 19, 2017.

Court Orders Health Workers to Suspend Strike

The National Industrial Court, Abuja, on Friday ordered the Nigerian Union of Allied Health Professionals to call off the indefinite nationwide strike which commenced on March 6.Justice Benedict Kanyip, who gave the order, restrained the union from continuing with the industrial strike action, pending the outcome of the substantive suit.The suit was filed by the Federal Ministry of Health.The ministry’s lawyer, Lloyd-Benson Iboroma, had told the court that the striking workers perform essential services.According to him, indulging in a strike action is detrimental to the nation.Advertisement Iboroma said that series of meetings had been held with the union to prevent the strike action and ensure that their demands were met.He said that the defendant was duly served notices to appear in court, but failed to be present in court.Members of the NUAHP who commenced indefinite strike on March 6, are dental therapists, medical physicists, health information officers, clinical psychologists and medical social workers.
NUAHP’s General Secretary, Mr Obisesan Oluwatuyi, had listed some of their grievances to include: stagnation, non-implementation of a court judgment since 2014, over the adjustment of COHESS salary structure, non-payment of arrears, among others.