Court Upholds ICPC’s Final Forfeiture of Hevee Hotel, ₦14.1m Linked to ExxonMobil Staff Fraud
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has secured a final forfeiture order against Hevee Hotel and the sum of ₦14,160,655.35, both traced to the late Mr. Okon Tom Ekpo, a former employee of ExxonMobil Producing Company, who was discovered to have obtained his employment through impersonation and falsified academic credentials.
Investigations by the Commission established that Mr. Ekpo fraudulently assumed another person’s identity to secure employment, leading to criminal charges at the Ikeja High Court. In the course of plea bargain negotiations, he agreed to relinquish Hevee Hotel, situated at Alafia Estate off the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway, together with funds in his United Bank for Africa account. Consequently, on 9 December 2022, the ICPC filed an in rem application before the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, seeking forfeiture of the identified assets.
On 13 January 2023, Hon. Justice T. G. Ringim granted an interim forfeiture order and directed the Commission to publish notices accordingly. Compliance was effected through publications in Leadership and The Sun newspapers, as well as in the Federal Government Gazette on 16 March 2023. Following the filing of an affidavit of compliance and a motion for final forfeiture, the court, on 13 March 2024, ordered the permanent forfeiture of the hotel and funds to the Federal Government.
Subsequently, the defendant’s widow sought to set aside the forfeiture, alleging fraud. The ICPC Legal Team—Mrs. Yvonne William‑Mbata, Mrs. Roseline Eze, and Mrs. Yemisi Pereira—contended that the court was functus officio and that all statutory procedures had been duly observed.
In a landmark judgment delivered on 21 November 2025, Hon. Justice Owoeye of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, dismissed the application for lack of merit. The court held that no evidence of fraud had been established and affirmed its lack of jurisdiction to reopen a matter conclusively determined by a final forfeiture order.
According to a statement issued by J. Okor Odey, ANIPR, spokesperson for the commission, ICPC has hailed the ruling as a significant precedent in Nigeria’s jurisprudence on in rem proceedings under Sections 47 and 48 of the ICPC Act, 2000, reinforcing the Commission’s asset recovery mandate and its broader anti‑corruption campaign.
