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NFF, The Revolving Door Of Corruption: Properties Were Seized, What Happens Next?

*Fifteen Properties, Four NFF Officials- And A Public Record Still Askibg For Closure

๐Y PAUL LUCKY OKOKU

How many properties were involved?

What were they?

What did the anti-corruption agencies actually do?

Were the properties merely marked or seized for investigation?

Was ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ข๐ฆ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ž obtained?

Was there ever ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ง๐š๐ฅ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ž?

Were the owners ultimately cleared?

Those are the questions that should guide this discussion.

Not rumour.

Not internet estimates of personal wealth.

Not assumptions.

๐๐ฎ๐›๐ฅ๐ข๐œ ๐ซ๐ž๐œ๐จ๐ซ๐๐ฌ. ๐‚๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ญ ๐ซ๐ž๐œ๐จ๐ซ๐๐ฌ. ๐€๐ ๐ž๐ง๐œ๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ. ๐ƒ๐จ๐œ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž๐ฌ.

According to publicly reported ๐ˆ๐‚๐๐‚ records from ๐’๐ž๐ฉ๐ญ๐ž๐ฆ๐›๐ž๐ซ ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ—, no fewer than ๐Ÿ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ญ๐ž๐ž๐ง (๐Ÿ๐Ÿ“) ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ connected with ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ง๐ข๐จ๐ซ ๐๐ข๐ ๐ž๐ซ๐ข๐š ๐…๐จ๐จ๐ญ๐›๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐…๐ž๐๐ž๐ซ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง officials were seized or placed under investigation during an anti-corruption probe.

The four officials named in that public record were then-NFF President ๐€๐ฆ๐š๐ฃ๐ฎ ๐๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ข๐œ๐ค, NFF General Secretary ๐ƒ๐ซ. ๐Œ๐จ๐ก๐š๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ž๐ ๐’๐š๐ง๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ข, NFF Second Vice-President ๐’๐ก๐ž๐ก๐ฎ ๐ƒ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐จ, and NFF Technical Committee official ๐€๐ก๐ฆ๐ž๐ ๐˜๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐Ÿ ๐…๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ก.

Contemporary reporting gave the breakdown as:

  • ๐€๐ฆ๐š๐ฃ๐ฎ ๐๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ข๐œ๐ค โ€” ๐Ÿ” ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ.
  • ๐Œ๐จ๐ก๐š๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ž๐ ๐’๐š๐ง๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ข โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ.
  • ๐’๐ก๐ž๐ก๐ฎ ๐ƒ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐จ โ€” ๐Ÿ’ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ.
  • ๐€๐ก๐ฆ๐ž๐ ๐˜๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐Ÿ ๐…๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ก โ€” ๐Ÿ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ.

That makes ๐Ÿ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ญ๐ž๐ž๐ง (๐Ÿ๐Ÿ“) ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ in all.

The ๐ˆ๐‚๐๐‚ investigation did not remain a vague headline.

According to the public record, the Commission identified specific properties.

For ๐€๐ฆ๐š๐ฃ๐ฎ ๐๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ข๐œ๐ค, the reported properties included a mansion in ๐๐š๐ซ๐ค๐ฏ๐ข๐ž๐ฐ ๐„๐ฌ๐ญ๐š๐ญ๐ž, ๐ˆ๐ค๐จ๐ฒ๐ข, ๐‹๐š๐ ๐จ๐ฌ; a bungalow in ๐†๐‘๐€, ๐–๐š๐ซ๐ซ๐ข; the ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฐ๐ง๐ก๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐„๐ฏ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐‚๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐ž in Warri; a bungalow in ๐ƒ๐ƒ๐๐€ ๐‡๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐„๐ฌ๐ญ๐š๐ญ๐ž, ๐€๐ฌ๐š๐›๐š; an apartment at ๐‘๐ž๐ ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ ๐๐ฅ๐š๐ณ๐š, ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐ก ๐Œ๐š๐ข๐๐š ๐•๐š๐ฅ๐ž, ๐‹๐จ๐ง๐๐จ๐ง; and ๐๐ฅ๐จ๐ญ ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ–๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ“, ๐‚๐š๐๐š๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐ฅ ๐™๐จ๐ง๐ž ๐€๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ, ๐Œ๐š๐ข๐ญ๐š๐ฆ๐š ๐ˆ๐ˆ, ๐€๐›๐ฎ๐ฃ๐š, with a reported Right of Occupancy dated ๐Œ๐š๐ฒ ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ“, ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ—.

For ๐Œ๐จ๐ก๐š๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ž๐ ๐’๐š๐ง๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ข, the reported properties included a house near ๐†๐ฎ๐ข๐ฐ๐š ๐‹๐จ๐ฐ-๐‚๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐‡๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐„๐ฌ๐ญ๐š๐ญ๐ž, ๐’๐จ๐ค๐จ๐ญ๐จ; ๐๐ฅ๐จ๐ญ ๐Ÿ–๐ŸŽ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ, ๐‚๐š๐๐š๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐ฅ ๐™๐จ๐ง๐ž ๐„๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ–, ๐€๐›๐ฎ๐ฃ๐š; and a property at ๐†๐€ ๐“๐š๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ž๐ซ ๐’๐ญ๐ซ๐ž๐ž๐ญ, ๐™๐จ๐ง๐ž ๐Ÿ”, ๐€๐›๐ฎ๐ฃ๐š.

For ๐’๐ก๐ž๐ก๐ฎ ๐ƒ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐จ, the public record identified a mansion at ๐๐จ. ๐Ÿ ๐‘๐ข๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ ๐๐ž๐ง๐ฎ๐ž ๐’๐ญ๐ซ๐ž๐ž๐ญ, ๐Œ๐š๐ข๐ญ๐š๐ฆ๐š, ๐€๐›๐ฎ๐ฃ๐š; ๐๐ฅ๐จ๐ญ ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ•๐Ÿ”, ๐‚๐š๐๐š๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐ฅ ๐™๐จ๐ง๐ž ๐๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ”, ๐Œ๐š๐›๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ก๐ข; a property at ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ ๐Ž๐ก๐ข๐ค๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐‘๐จ๐š๐, ๐†๐‘๐€, ๐”๐ง๐ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐š๐ซ ๐‘๐ข๐ฆ๐ข, ๐Š๐š๐๐ฎ๐ง๐š; and ๐๐ฅ๐จ๐ญ ๐Ÿ”๐Ÿ”๐Ÿ—, ๐‚๐š๐๐š๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐ฅ ๐™๐จ๐ง๐ž ๐๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ“, ๐”๐ญ๐š๐ค๐จ.

For ๐€๐ก๐ฆ๐ž๐ ๐˜๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐Ÿ ๐…๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ก, contemporaneous reporting identified two bungalows in ๐Œ๐ข๐ง๐ง๐š, ๐๐ข๐ ๐ž๐ซ ๐’๐ญ๐š๐ญ๐ž โ€” one on ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐จ๐ง ๐˜๐š๐ซ๐ ๐‘๐จ๐š๐ off ๐ƒ๐š๐ฏ๐ข๐ ๐Œ๐š๐ซ๐ค ๐‘๐จ๐š๐ and another in ๐๐จ๐ฌ๐ฌ๐จ ๐„๐ฌ๐ญ๐š๐ญ๐ž.

The Commissionโ€™s spokesperson, ๐‘๐š๐ฌ๐ก๐ž๐ž๐๐š๐ญ ๐Ž๐ค๐จ๐๐ฎ๐ฐ๐š, was also reported as saying that ๐ˆ๐‚๐๐‚ intended to apply to court for ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ข๐ฆ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ž of the properties while investigations continued, and that ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐ฆ๐š๐ง๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ž could be sought if the evidence ultimately supported it.

That distinction is critical.

๐€ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ข๐ณ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ž ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐š ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ง๐š๐ฅ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ž.

๐€๐ง ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ข๐ฆ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ž ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐š ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ง๐š๐ฅ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ž.

๐€๐ง ๐ข๐ง๐ฏ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐š ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐ฏ๐ข๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง.

And that is precisely why the public deserves to know how each matter ended.

The identification of ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ“ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ connected to ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ง๐ข๐จ๐ซ ๐๐…๐… ๐จ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ข๐œ๐ข๐š๐ฅ๐ฌ raised serious questions requiring documentary answers.

๐–๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ˆ๐‚๐๐‚ ๐ข๐ง๐ฏ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง?

๐–๐ก๐ข๐œ๐ก ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐ซ๐ž๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐ฌ๐ž๐, ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฐ๐ก๐ข๐œ๐ก, ๐ข๐Ÿ ๐š๐ง๐ฒ, ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ง๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ข๐ญ๐ž๐?

The answers must come from the investigating authorities and the courts.

Nigerians deserve the complete record, not merely the original announcement.

๐“๐‡๐„ ๐’๐‡๐„๐‡๐” ๐ƒ๐ˆ๐Š๐Š๐Ž ๐‘๐„๐‚๐Ž๐‘๐ƒ ๐’๐‡๐Ž๐–๐’ ๐–๐‡๐˜ ๐“๐‡๐„ ๐„๐๐ƒ๐ˆ๐๐† ๐Œ๐€๐“๐“๐„๐‘๐’

Later court material concerning ๐’๐ก๐ž๐ก๐ฎ ๐ƒ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐จ demonstrates why journalists and researchers must follow these matters beyond the original seizure headline.

๐ƒ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐จ challenged ๐ˆ๐‚๐๐‚โ€™๐ฌ action.

According to an ๐…๐‚๐“ ๐‡๐ข๐ ๐ก ๐‚๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ญ judgment, his case included the contention that the Commission had sought forfeiture of several properties, but that the court had observed that only one of the properties at issue had been acquired after the relevant NFF office date. The court record also recounts ๐ƒ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐จโ€™๐ฌ position that an earlier forfeiture motion had been withdrawn and that ๐ˆ๐‚๐๐‚ subsequently marked his ๐Œ๐š๐ข๐ญ๐š๐ฆ๐š property as being under investigation without a subsisting forfeiture order.

Separately, ๐ƒ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐จโ€™๐ฌ lawyers later told the media that the property matter had been ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐œ๐ค ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐จ๐ง ๐Œ๐š๐ซ๐œ๐ก ๐Ÿ’, ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ, maintaining that the properties predated his NFF tenure. The same later reporting said an ๐ˆ๐‚๐๐‚ source maintained that investigations involving other NFF officials remained ongoing.

That is exactly why the language must remain precise.

The ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ— seizure was real.

The subsequent legal challenge was real.

The later claimed court outcome must also be recorded.

Accountability cannot preserve only the damaging headline and discard the later defense or court development.

๐“๐‡๐„๐‘๐„ ๐–๐€๐’ ๐€๐‹๐’๐Ž ๐€ ๐’๐„๐๐€๐‘๐€๐“๐„ ๐‚๐‘๐ˆ๐Œ๐ˆ๐๐€๐‹ ๐‚๐€๐’๐„

Separate from the ๐ˆ๐‚๐๐‚ property investigation was the prosecution identified as ๐‚๐ก๐š๐ซ๐ ๐ž ๐๐จ. ๐…๐‚๐“/๐‡๐‚/๐‚๐‘/๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ๐Ÿ’/๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ–.

On ๐Ž๐œ๐ญ๐จ๐›๐ž๐ซ ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ–, ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ–, according to the public record, the ๐„๐…๐‚๐‚ arraigned three NFF officials before the ๐…๐‚๐“ ๐‡๐ข๐ ๐ก ๐‚๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ญ in ๐Œ๐š๐ข๐ญ๐š๐ฆ๐š, ๐€๐›๐ฎ๐ฃ๐š:

  • ๐‚๐ก๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ฉ๐ก๐ž๐ซ ๐€๐ง๐๐ž๐ค๐ข๐ง, then ๐ƒ๐ข๐ซ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐€๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐š๐ง๐ ๐…๐ข๐ง๐š๐ง๐œ๐ž;
  • ๐‘๐ž๐š๐ ๐š๐ง ๐™๐š๐ค๐š, then ๐‚๐š๐ฌ๐ก๐ข๐ž๐ซ; and
  • ๐…๐š๐๐š๐ง๐š๐ซ๐ข ๐Œ๐š๐ฆ๐ณ๐š, then ๐‡๐ž๐š๐ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐…๐ข๐ง๐š๐ง๐œ๐ž ๐š๐ง๐ ๐€๐œ๐œ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ.

They faced allegations concerning ๐…๐ˆ๐…๐€ ๐๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ฅ๐จ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐Ÿ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ฌ.

๐€๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐๐ž๐ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฒ.

The case was widely described as involving approximately ๐”๐’$๐Ÿ—.๐Ÿ“ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐จ๐ง in FIFA grant money.

The ๐„๐…๐‚๐‚ later sought to add ๐€๐ฆ๐š๐ฃ๐ฎ ๐๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ข๐œ๐ค and ๐Œ๐จ๐ก๐š๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ž๐ ๐’๐š๐ง๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ข as defendants.

On ๐…๐ž๐›๐ซ๐ฎ๐š๐ซ๐ฒ ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ, ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ, ๐‰๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐œ๐ž ๐๐ž๐ญ๐ž๐ซ ๐€๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ง refused that application.

According to the publicly reported ruling, the court considered the proposed joinder an ๐š๐›๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐œ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐œ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ in light of overlapping proceedings and the fact that ๐๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ข๐œ๐ค and ๐’๐š๐ง๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ข had earlier been listed as witnesses. The trial against the original three defendants was to continue.

That must be stated accurately:

๐๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ข๐œ๐ค ๐š๐ง๐ ๐’๐š๐ง๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ข ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐š๐๐๐ž๐ ๐š๐ฌ ๐๐ž๐Ÿ๐ž๐ง๐๐š๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐œ๐ž๐ž๐๐ข๐ง๐ .

That is not a conviction.

It is not an acquittal on the underlying allegations in that particular case either.

It is a ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐œ๐ž๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐š๐ฅ ๐œ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ญ ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ , and it should be reported as such.

๐“๐‡๐„ ๐’๐„๐๐€๐‘๐€๐“๐„ ๐’๐๐ˆ๐ ๐‚๐€๐’๐„ ๐ƒ๐ˆ๐ƒ ๐‡๐€๐•๐„ ๐€ ๐๐”๐๐‹๐ˆ๐‚ ๐„๐๐ƒ๐ˆ๐๐†

Another proceeding โ€” brought by the now-defunct ๐’๐ฉ๐ž๐œ๐ข๐š๐ฅ ๐๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ข๐๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐š๐ฅ ๐ˆ๐ง๐ฏ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐๐š๐ง๐ž๐ฅ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐‘๐ž๐œ๐จ๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ฒ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐๐ฎ๐›๐ฅ๐ข๐œ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐ญ๐ฒ (๐’๐๐ˆ๐) โ€” named ๐€๐ฆ๐š๐ฃ๐ฎ ๐๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ข๐œ๐ค, ๐Œ๐จ๐ก๐š๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ž๐ ๐’๐š๐ง๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ข, ๐’๐ž๐ฒ๐ข ๐€๐ค๐ข๐ง๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ง๐ฆ๐ข, ๐’๐ก๐ž๐ก๐ฎ ๐ƒ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐จ and ๐€๐ก๐ฆ๐ž๐ ๐˜๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐Ÿ.

According to the ๐…๐ž๐๐ž๐ซ๐š๐ฅ ๐‡๐ข๐ ๐ก ๐‚๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ญ record reported on ๐๐จ๐ฏ๐ž๐ฆ๐›๐ž๐ซ ๐Ÿ“, ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ—, the case involved ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ” ๐œ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ and allegations concerning approximately ๐”๐’$๐Ÿ–.๐Ÿ’ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐จ๐ง and โ‚ฆ๐Ÿ’ ๐›๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐จ๐ง, along with conflict-of-interest and asset-declaration issues.

The ๐Ž๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ข๐œ๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐€๐ญ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ง๐ž๐ฒ-๐†๐ž๐ง๐ž๐ซ๐š๐ฅ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐…๐ž๐๐ž๐ซ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง took over the matter and applied to withdraw the charges, stating that the available proof of evidence could not sustain them.

๐‰๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐œ๐ž ๐ˆ๐ฃ๐ž๐จ๐ฆ๐š ๐Ž๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ subsequently ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐œ๐ก๐š๐ซ๐ ๐ž๐ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐š๐œ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ž๐ the five defendants.

That outcome belongs prominently in this article.

If we report the investigation, we report the clearance.

If we report the allegation, we report the acquittal.

That is fairness.

But the acquittal in the ๐’๐๐ˆ๐ proceeding did not automatically answer every separate ๐ˆ๐‚๐๐‚ property question or every separate ๐„๐…๐‚๐‚ proceeding.

That distinction is essential.

๐…๐ˆ๐…๐“๐„๐„๐ ๐๐‘๐Ž๐๐„๐‘๐“๐ˆ๐„๐’ โ€” ๐๐”๐“ ๐‡๐Ž๐– ๐Œ๐€๐๐˜ ๐–๐„๐‘๐„ ๐…๐ˆ๐๐€๐‹๐‹๐˜ ๐…๐Ž๐‘๐…๐„๐ˆ๐“๐„๐ƒ?

This is where the research reaches its most important unanswered question.

According to the public record, ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ“ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ were seized or placed under investigation in ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ—.

The ๐ˆ๐‚๐๐‚ said it intended to pursue ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ข๐ฆ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ž.

But I have not yet located an authoritative final record establishing that these ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ“ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ โ€” individually or collectively โ€” became subject to ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ง๐š๐ฅ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ž.

Nor have I located an official property-by-property public schedule showing:

  • which properties were released;
  • which remained restrained;
  • which were subject to interim forfeiture;
  • which, if any, were finally forfeited;
  • and what official valuation was assigned to each.

That does not prove wrongdoing.

It does not prove innocence.

It proves something much simpler:

๐“๐ก๐ž ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐›๐ฅ๐ข๐œ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐š๐œ๐œ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐›๐ฅ๐ž ๐๐จ๐œ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐š๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐ข๐ฅ ๐ซ๐ž๐ฆ๐š๐ข๐ง๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž๐ญ๐ž.

And that is where the institutions responsible for accountability should step in.

If the properties were released, publish the orders.

If the investigation was closed, publish the closure.

If anyone was cleared, record the clearance.

If forfeiture was obtained, identify the property and court order.

If prosecution was discontinued, state when and why.

If proceedings remain alive, tell Nigerians where they stand.

๐€๐‚๐‚๐Ž๐”๐๐“๐€๐๐ˆ๐‹๐ˆ๐“๐˜ ๐ˆ๐’ ๐๐Ž๐“ ๐€ ๐๐‘๐„๐ƒ๐„๐“๐„๐‘๐Œ๐ˆ๐๐„๐ƒ ๐•๐„๐‘๐ƒ๐ˆ๐‚๐“. ๐ˆ๐“ ๐ˆ๐’ ๐€ ๐‚๐Ž๐Œ๐๐‹๐„๐“๐„๐ƒ ๐๐‘๐Ž๐‚๐„๐’๐’.

A public investigation creates a public responsibility to explain the ending.

The properties were identified.

The houses were marked.

The agencies spoke.

The courts became involved.

Years passed.

Now Nigerians are entitled to ask:

๐–๐‡๐„๐‘๐„ ๐ˆ๐’ ๐“๐‡๐„ ๐…๐ˆ๐๐€๐‹ ๐๐‘๐Ž๐๐„๐‘๐“๐˜-๐๐˜-๐๐‘๐Ž๐๐„๐‘๐“๐˜ ๐€๐‚๐‚๐Ž๐”๐๐“๐ˆ๐๐†?

No assumptions.

No speculation.

No trial by social media.

Just the documents.

๐…๐Ž๐‹๐‹๐Ž๐– ๐“๐‡๐„ ๐‘๐„๐‚๐Ž๐‘๐ƒ.

๐…๐Ž๐‹๐‹๐Ž๐– ๐“๐‡๐„ ๐‚๐Ž๐”๐‘๐“ ๐Ž๐‘๐ƒ๐„๐‘.

๐…๐Ž๐‹๐‹๐Ž๐– ๐“๐‡๐„ ๐๐‘๐Ž๐๐„๐‘๐“๐˜.

๐…๐Ž๐‹๐‹๐Ž๐– ๐“๐‡๐„ ๐Ž๐”๐“๐‚๐Ž๐Œ๐„.

๐๐š๐ฎ๐ฅ ๐‹๐ฎ๐œ๐ค๐ฒ ๐Ž๐ค๐จ๐ค๐ฎ
FIFA Legend | Former Nigeria Flying Eagles Vice-Captain | Former Super Eagles International | AFCON Silver Medalist | Football Historian | Football Analyst | Investigative Football Writer | Journalist-at-Large | Founder & CEO, Greater Tomorrow Childrenโ€™s Fund (GTCF)

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