The Supreme Court on Friday affirmed the order of temporary forfeiture made by a Federal High Court in Lagos in respect of the $8.4million traced to the wife of the former president, Mrs. Patience Jonathan by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

In its unanimous judgment, the five-man panel of the court led by Justice Dattijo Muhammad held that the appeal filed by Mrs. Jonathan challenging the interim forfeiture lacked merit.

The apex court also directed her to return to the Federal High Court to prove her ownership to the said funds and show cause why the funds should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.

The court also rejected her prayer to strike down the provisions of Section 17 of the Advanced Fee Fraud Act and other Fraud Related Offences Act, which were relied on by the Federal High Court to issue the order of interim forfeiture.

Upholding the decision of the Court of Appeal in Lagos which had affirmed the Federal High Court’s interim order, Justice Kumai Aka’ahs, while delivering the lead judgment held that he did not find any reason to interfere with the decision of the lower court.

The EFCC had last year approached the Federal High Court in Lagos with an ex parte application seeking the forfeiture of the sum of $8,435,788.84 and other various sums in various bank accounts linked to the wife of  former President, Goodluck Jonathan.

In its application, the anti-graft agency had urged the court to grant an order of interim forfeiture of the funds which they said were suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities.