Court orders interim forfeiture of ₦1.1bn over alleged Kano state account irregularities

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has ordered the interim forfeiture of more than ₦1.1 billion allegedly traced to irregular transactions from the Kano State Federation Account domiciled with United Bank for Africa (UBA).

The order was made on Tuesday by Justice Emeka Nwite following an ex parte application filed by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC). The application was argued by ICPC counsel, Oluwafunke Bada, who urged the court to preserve the funds pending the conclusion of investigations.

Nwite held that the application was meritorious and granted the interim forfeiture of the sum of ₦1,109,230,000. The judge further directed that the order be published in a national daily newspaper to enable any interested party to appear before the court and show cause why the funds should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.

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A Court document seen by BusinessDay indicates that the case has been adjourned to January 21, 2026, for a report on compliance with the court’s directives.

The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2634/2025, lists the Federal Republic of Nigeria as applicant and the recovered sum, currently domiciled in an ICPC recovery account, as the subject of the forfeiture proceedings. The case was filed on December 8, 2025, by Z.S. Nass, an Assistant Director at the ICPC.

According to court documents, the anti-corruption agency is investigating the funds in connection with a petition numbered ICPC/P/NC/564/2024. The ICPC stated that the money is reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities and was recovered during an ongoing investigation.

In an affidavit sworn to by David Nelson, an Anti-Corruption Assistant with the commission, the ICPC revealed that it received a petition dated August 19, 2024, from concerned citizens of Kano State. The petition alleged that ₦2.3 billion was withdrawn in cash from the Kano State Federation Account and utilised for purposes unrelated to official government business.

The affidavit further alleged that on November 9, 2023, the Kano State Accountant-General, Abdulkadir Abdulsalam, authorised the transfer of ₦1.1 billion to two Bureau de Change companies. It was also claimed that $1 million in cash was subsequently handed over at the Kano State Liaison Office in Asokoro, Abuja.

The ICPC disclosed that a total of ₦1,109,230,000 was recovered from the two companies in two instalments—₦570 million and ₦539.23 million—on February 27 and March 21, respectively.

The commission argued that granting the interim forfeiture order was necessary to preserve the funds in the interest of justice, pending public notice and the determination of whether a final forfeiture order should be made in favour of the Federal Government.