The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, has secured a final court order for the forfeiture of Hevee Hotel and the sum of N14,160,655.35, linked to a former ExxonMobil employee apprehended for using falsified credentials.
The case involved the late Mr. Okon Tom Ekpo, a former staff member of ExxonMobil Producing Company. An ICPC investigation revealed that Mr. Ekpo had obtained his employment by impersonating another individual and presenting fraudulent academic credentials, leading to charges against him at the Ikeja High Court.
Mr. Ekpo entered into plea bargain discussions with the ICPC, offering to forfeit Hevee Hotel, located at Alafia Estate off the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway, and the funds in his United Bank for Africa account. On December 9, 2022, the Commission filed an in-rem application for the forfeiture of the defendant’s assets at the Federal High Court in Ikoyi.
On January 13, 2023, Hon. Justice T. G. Ringim granted an interim forfeiture order and directed the ICPC to publish notices of the order. The Commission complied, publishing the notices in Leadership and The Sun newspapers, as well as in a national gazette on March 16, 2023. After filing an affidavit of compliance and a motion for final forfeiture, the court granted the final order on March 23, 2024, forfeiting the hotel and the N14.1 million to the Federal Government.
Subsequently, the defendant’s wife challenged the forfeiture, alleging fraud and seeking to set aside the court orders. The ICPC Legal Team, comprising Mrs. Yvonne William-Mbata, Mrs. Roseline Eze, and Mrs. Yemisi Pereira, argued that the court was now functus officio—having no further authority on the matter—and that all due processes had been properly followed.
In a ruling on November 21, 2025, Hon. Justice Owoeye of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, delivered a landmark judgment dismissing the application for lack of merit. The court held that no evidence of fraud had been established and affirmed that it lacked jurisdiction to revisit a matter already determined by a final forfeiture order.
The ICPC has described the ruling as a significant milestone in Nigeria’s judicial precedent regarding in-rem proceedings under Sections 47 and 48 of the ICPC Act, 2000, as well as a major boost to asset-recovery efforts and the Commission’s ongoing campaign against corruption.
