Help Me My Family Are Hungry, Unfreeze My Account-Ozekhome Begs Court

Mike Ozekhome (SAN), a counsel to Ekiti state governor Ayo Fayose, has asked a Federal High Court in Lagos to vacate the interim order allowing the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to freeze his account with N75million in it.

Nigerian Tribune reports that Ozekhome made the request in a motion on notice filed on Tuesday, February 14, 2017.

In the motion, Ozekhome prayed the court to restrain the EFCC from cancelling his rights of the ownership of the said account.

He based his application on the ground that EFCC’s application for an order for interim attachment/forfeiture of the said account was done in bad faith and that it did not comply with statutory and judicial authorities in obtaining an interim order vide motion ex parte.

The report quoted Ozekhome as saying that his family, staff dependants, associates, business and livelihood will greatly suffer, and are already suffering and will continue to suffer irreparable damage if the blockade or freezing of the account is not lifted immediately.

Ozekhome also claimed that the application and the following order did not comply with the rules of the court and judicial authorities regulating the grant of ex-parte application.

The motion read: “The entire application leading to the grant of the interim order ex parte amounts to forum shopping and was calculated to overreach and did in fact overreach the Applicant since the issue of whether or not the funds in Governor Fayose’s account from which the N75 Million was posted to Mike Ozekhome’s Chambers GT Bank account is suspected proceed of crime is currently on appeal as filed and entered by the self-same Counsel to the Respondent herein, Mr Rotimi Oyedepo Iseoluwa.”