Former chairman of the Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property, Okoi Obono-Obla, has welcomed the enactment of the Proceeds of Crime (Recovery and Management) Act, describing it as a timely boost for Nigeria’s anti-graft war.
In a statement, Obono-Obla said the new law equips agencies such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) with “the legal ammunition to tear down the walls of corruption and return stolen wealth to public use.”
“For too long, corruption has strutted through the streets of Nigeria in designer suits and hidden behind high walls,” he said.
The former anti-corruption chief recalled his time in office, when he would drive around Abuja and see “rows of palatial houses and sprawling estates completed and tastefully finished, yet eerily silent and uninhabited.”
According to him, many of these properties were “monuments of corruption,” allegedly “owned by senior civil servants who converted stolen public funds into bricks, marble, and manicured lawns.
“At the time, there was no Proceeds of Crime Act — no direct legal tool to seize these assets and return them to public use. Now, that has changed,” he noted.
Obono-Obla explained that the Act allows for non-conviction-based recovery, meaning courts can order the forfeiture of assets proven to have been corruptly or illegally acquired without securing a criminal conviction.
“With this Act, the EFCC and other agencies can seize ill-gotten estates, initiate forfeiture proceedings, and, where appropriate, sell them to make affordable housing available to ordinary Nigerians,” he said. “It’s not just about reclaiming property; it’s about reclaiming dignity.”
He added: “It is time to strip corruption of its palaces and put the keys in the hands of the people.”
