Former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, has asked the Appeal Court to cancel the order that took away 753 duplexes from him in Abuja.

In his appeal dated April 30, 2025, Mr. Emefiele said the court gave the order without having enough proper evidence.

Back in December 2024, Justice Jude Onwegbuzie of the FCT High Court gave a final order allowing the anti-corruption agency to take over the houses permanently.

According to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), this was the biggest single asset recovery the agency had made since it started in 2003.

Although the EFCC did not reveal who the real owner was, it said the property belonged to a former high-ranking government official.

At first, the estate was said to belong to a company, but the company later denied it. After that, Mr. Emefiele, through his lawyer, A.M. Kotoye, filed a request in court as someone who had an interest in the case.

In April, Mr. Emefiele went to the FCT High Court again, asking for more time so he could apply to cancel the earlier court decisions that took the estate from him.

He said he did not know about the case on time because the EFCC published the notice in a part of the newspaper that was hard to find.

However, Judge Onwegbuzie rejected his request. The judge said the law clearly explains how forfeiture notices should be published and that the EFCC did nothing wrong.

He also said that a half-page notice in a national newspaper was enough and couldn’t be called “hidden.”

Just last week, Kristina Reports shared that the EFCC had officially handed over the 753 duplexes to the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.