Court orders final forfeiture of Lagos property linked to wanted drug suspect
By Akin Kuponiyi
A Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered the final forfeiture of a property belonging to a suspected drug trafficker, Chidozie Francis Orji, to the Federal Government.
The property, located at No. 20 Hakeem Dosumu Street, Ago Palace, Okota, Lagos, comprises four three-bedroom flats and a four-bedroom duplex.
Justice Akintayo Aluko made the forfeiture order after hearing an application filed and argued by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) prosecuting counsel, Buhari Abdullahi.
The application followed the escape of Orji during an NDLEA raid on the property on August 7, 2026, when operatives reportedly recovered 37,760 kilogrammes of codeine-laden cough syrup.
On September 3, 2026, the agency obtained an interim forfeiture order over the property. The court also directed that the order be published in a national newspaper to notify interested persons and give anyone claiming an interest in the property an opportunity to come forward.
The court subsequently ordered the destruction of the seized drug consignment following an application by Abdullahi, who argued that retaining such a huge quantity of narcotics would pose serious logistical challenges to the agency.
The NDLEA also disclosed that between April 15 and 17, 2026, it recovered approximately 190.9 tonnes of codeine-containing cough syrup and one tonne of tramadol from two rented warehouses in the same Ago Palace, Okota area of Lagos.
The agency said investigations linked the consignments recovered from the warehouses to Orji, who remains on its wanted list in connection with the ongoing investigation.
Moving the application for final forfeiture, Abdullahi told the court that the agency had complied with the interim forfeiture order made on September 3, 2026.
He said the order was published in The Punch newspaper of Friday, September 11, 2026, on page 25, Volume 51, No. 23,847, to notify interested persons of the proceedings.
The prosecutor further told the court that investigations into the ownership of the property traced it to hBosun Kenneth Fabiyi, who was identified as its previous owner.
According to Abdullahi, Fabiyi was contacted by the agency’s investigators and confirmed that he had sold the property to Orji.
He said Fabiyi also provided the NDLEA with an executed Deed of Assignment evidencing the transfer of the property, alongside receipts and other proof of payments made by the purchaser through his personal bank account.
Abdullahi told the court that copies of the executed Deed of Assignment and available payment records were attached to the agency’s affidavit as Exhibits NDLEA 1 and NDLEA 2, respectively.
He submitted that the documents and investigations established Orji as the purchaser and the person identified as the owner in the transaction records.
The prosecutor further stated that since the property was sealed by the agency on August 7, 2026, Orji had neither appeared before the NDLEA to explain the circumstances surrounding the property and the recovery of the narcotics nor participated in the ongoing investigation.
“To the best of my knowledge and from the records available to the agency, no other person has come forward to claim ownership of the property or to provide information establishing a competing interest in it,” Abdullahi said.
He urged the court to grant the application and order the final forfeiture of the property to the Federal Government.
After listening to the prosecution and examining the documents before him, Justice Aluko granted the application, ordering the final forfeiture of the property to the Federal Government in the absence of any opposition.