A court in the United Kingdom has ordered the seizure of a property linked to the family of a Nigerian senator.
Abigail Marshall Katung, who previously served as Lord Mayor of Leeds in the UK, lost her bid to stop authorities from taking over the house following a ruling by the High Court. She is married to the Senator representing Kaduna South Senatorial district, Senator Sunday Marshall Katung.
The property located in Alwoodley, in Leeds, in the UK, has been seized by the National Crime Agency (NCA), the UK’s agency responsible for fighting organised crime, including drug trafficking and money laundering.
According to court records, the house originally belonged to a businessman who later became a suspect in a money-laundering investigation.
In 2020, the businessman surrendered the property to the NCA as part of an agreement with investigators.
However, the court heard that Abigail Katung had earlier entered into an arrangement in 2015 to purchase the property for about one million pounds, about one point eight five billion naira.
She reportedly paid about four hundred thousand pounds or about seven hundred and forty million Naira of the amount but never completed the balance of the payment.
During the proceedings, the court was told that most of the funds used for the deposit were transferred from Nigeria to the United Kingdom through an informal money transfer network, sometimes referred to as a “parallel” or “black-market” system.
Her husband, Senator Sunday Marshall Katung, who was said to have been the source of the funds used for the payment, did not submit a witness statement during the trial.
Importantly, the court stated there was no evidence that Abigail Katung knew about the alleged criminal activities linked to the property’s previous owner.
In June 2025, the High Court ruled that she had no legal ownership rights to the property.
Her attempt to challenge that decision was later rejected by another judge, who said the appeal had “no real prospect of success.”
Following the decision, the National Crime Agency obtained a legal order to take possession of the house. Officials confirmed that officers have since entered the property and changed the locks.
Authorities say the property will now be sold, and the money from the sale will be returned to the UK government.
The NCA says the case took several years to conclude and involved significant legal costs funded by British taxpayers.
(Editor: Roluke Ogundele)
