Court freezes eight Kano properties as EFCC marks N15bn Akar family estate
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Eight multi-billion-naira properties in Kano have been marked for federal custody after a Federal High Court interim forfeiture order, in a case stemming from the disputed sale of the Akar family's industrial estate.
Eight multi-billion-naira properties in Kano linked to the Akar family have been marked for federal custody after the Federal High Court in Abuja granted an interim forfeiture order on August 14, 2026 in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1684/2026, The Nation reported.
The EFCC began executing the order on September 3, 2026, tracking and stencilling assets linked to a disputed transfer of the family's holdings. To date eight properties have been marked, including Plot 53, Fagge Takudu, a commercial property under Certificate of Occupancy No. LKN/COM/90/87; Plot 5, Dorowa Road, an elite residential layout under C of O No. LKN/RES/RC/82/1295; Plot 41, Sharada Industrial Estate Phase II, under C of O No. LKN/IND/81/24; the ATM Quarters and the Maitama Sule property.
The dispute centres on 89-year-old industrialist Suhail Akar, a Member of the Federal Republic and founder of the now-defunct African Textile Manufacturers, who the publication reported discovered that his nephew, Khalil Adel Akar, had executed an unauthorised sale of corporate assets valued at over $17 million, then the equivalent of N15 billion, far exceeding the N4.38 billion in bank debt originally earmarked for settlement.
The Nation's investigation, "Empire for sale, not by consent", reported how a network involving officials at the Kano Land Ministry, court registrars and legal practitioners allegedly stripped the patriarch of his fortune through forged titles - an account the newspaper tied to the subsequent court action.
The markings drew relief among former staff and the Lebanese business community in Kano. Mohammed Idris, a former ATM employee who now trades clothes at the Fagge textile market, was quoted saying the court and EFCC action had restored confidence that investments built in Nigeria cannot be taken through institutional corruption.
The eight properties remain in federal custody under the interim forfeiture order, with the underlying dispute over ownership and the alleged fraudulent transfers still before the courts.