A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja today issued an order to freeze 13 bank accounts linked to a suspected terrorist, Henry Okocha.
Justice Peter Lifu issued the order following an ex-parte application filed before the court by the Department of State Services, represented by its counsel, Yunus Umar, reports The PUNCH.
The ex-parte application, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1036/2024, was brought under sections 5 and 81 of the Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act 2022.
In an 8-paragraph affidavit supporting the ex-parte motion, the DSS informed the court that the defendant had received substantial sums of money, amounting to millions of naira, in the accounts, and these funds were suspected to be proceeds of terrorism.
Umar requested the court to grant an order for the agency to freeze Okocha’s accounts for 90 days to allow for a thorough forensic investigation into his alleged acts of terrorism.
The DSS counsel argued that freezing the accounts would enable the agency to identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice.
The banks where the accounts are domiciled include First Bank of Nigeria, Guaranty Trust Bank, United Bank for Africa, Union Bank of Nigeria, Providus Bank, Palmpay Limited, and Resolut Limited.
In his ruling, Justice Lifu granted the DSS’s request to freeze the bank accounts but reduced the period to 60 days instead of the requested 90 days for the investigation.
He ruled that the accounts, which are domiciled in seven different banks, would remain “frozen for 60 days to enable the applicant to conduct the necessary forensic investigations into the alleged acts of terrorism by the defendant.”
The DSS confirmed that Okocha had been taken into custody following his arrest for investigation.
