Embattled erstwhile governor of Bayelsa State, Timipre Sylva does not have up to 48 houses, his legal representative said on Saturday, and in addition debunked claims by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission that his houses had been seized.
In a statement email to Huhuonline.com on behalf of Sylva’s legal team, Benson Ibezim expressed astonishment by wide-ranging media reports of the seizure of the said properties.
“In the first instance, Chief Timipre Sylva is not having 48 properties anywhere in the world,” one of the opening sentences of the statement read. “The three properties he has in Abuja had been secured by an order of court granted by F.C.T. High court and the Attorney General of the Federation and EFCC have been duly served since the 27th December 2012.”
According to Ibezim, the three properties covered by the order of F.C.T. High Court are properties legitimately acquired by Chief Timipre Sylva and his wife before he became the Executive Governor of Bayelsa State. He argued that the records are “quite clear” on the properties and that there is “no iota of doubt” as to the period of their acquisition, more so as Sylva duly declared the properties on assumption of office as Governor of Bayelsa State.
“It must be observed that we became aware of the interim order of attachment granted to EFCC on 4th day of January, 2013 as same was attached to the court process that was served on us by EFCC on the said 4th January, 2013.
“It is elementary knowledge of law that a party can only be bound by an order of court upon service of the court order on the party. Chief Timipre Sylva was not aware of the existence of any order of Federal High court against him as none was served on him.”
He disclosed that the Attorney General of the Federation and EFCC were duly served with the order of F.C.T. High Court on 27th December, 2012. But rather than obey the order of court, EFCC, in flagrant disregard to the order of court, has been taking steps in respect of the properties by writing to the occupants of the properties covered by the order of court.
“EFCC, being a creation of law, is expected to be law-abiding and is advised to have respect for the order of court of FCT High court of 27th December 2012 regarding the properties covered by the court order,” the statement added.
“It should also be mentioned that when Chief Timipre Sylva became aware of the sinister plan of EFCC to humiliate him by throwing him out of his house that was bought before he became the Governor of Bayelsa State, we wrote a letter to the Attorney General of the Federation and the Chairman of EFCC. Till date both of them did not response to the said letters.
Ibezim expressed “serious” displeasure with the practice of media trial and condemnation without getting to the root and substance of the facts, saying “Trials are done in Courts of law and not on the pages of newspapers where the general public is fed with all manner of falsehood, including imaginary 48 houses. We humbly and respectfully call on media to exercise due diligence in their reporting.”
