KC Luxury Challenges Court Order Over Properties
Businessman Afolabi Michael Kazeem, popularly known as KC Luxury, has challenged the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court in Lagos to make an interim order preserving his properties.
Kazeem argued that the proceedings leading to the order violated his constitutional right to fair hearing.
Kazeem, who is standing trial alongside two others over an alleged 184.5kg cocaine trafficking operation and money laundering, is asking the court to strike out the proceedings for want of jurisdiction, vacate the September 25, 2026 order preserving his properties and direct their immediate release.
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At the resumed hearing on Wednesday, his counsel, Emefo Etudo, told Justice Musa Kakaki that the defence filed an application on October 13 challenging the court’s jurisdiction after sighting a newspaper publication concerning the preservation order.
The application is scheduled for hearing on December 3, 2026.
Etudo said the defence had applied for a certified true copy of the proceedings of September 25 to establish what transpired before the order was made and to enable it to file a further affidavit.
He argued that the court ought not to have granted the order in the first place, maintaining that the circumstances raised questions about his client’s right to fair hearing.
Responding, counsel for the applicant, Abu Ibrahim, told the court that the business of the day was for a report. He said the court granted the preservation order on September 25 and directed the applicant to publish the order in a widely circulated newspaper.
In the application dated October 13, Kazeem’s lawyers contended that he was not served with a hearing notice before the preservation order was made, thereby denying him an opportunity to challenge the application.
They argued that the failure to afford him a hearing violated Section 36(1) of the 1999 Constitution, which guarantees fair hearing in the determination of civil rights and obligations.
The defence relied on several judicial authorities, including Madukolu v. Nkemdilim (1962) 2 SCNLR 341, to argue that compliance with due process is a condition for the valid exercise of jurisdiction.
The lawyers maintained that the alleged procedural irregularity rendered the proceedings a nullity and warranted vacation of the order.
Beyond the jurisdictional challenge, Etudo raised concerns about Kazeem’s health, telling the court that the businessman was in a critical condition.
“My Lord, just as a form of information to the court, the first defendant is between life and death as we speak,” he said.
He alleged that Kazeem was rushed to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) on Tuesday but was subsequently taken away by the police to the Police Hospital, claiming that both of the businessman’s lungs were no longer functioning properly.
