On the allegation of sentence of fine against the 2nd Respondent, this Honourable Court in JONATHAN V. FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA (2019) 10 NWLR (PT.1681) 533, held that “there is no need to prove any crime in forfeiture of property under section 17 ofthe Advanced Fee Fraud & Other Related. Offences Act, as civil forfeiture is a unique remedy which rests on the legal fiction that the property, not the owner is the target”. This of course was the basis of the lower court’s finding that the orders made in Exhibit PA5 were not in personam against the 2nd Respondent. There is no prove or preponderance of evidence to allow this arm of the Appellants’ issue.
— Uwani Abba Aji JSC. Peter Obi & Anor. v. INEC & Ors. (SC/CV/937/2023, Thursday the 26th day of October 2023)