Court orders final forfeiture of $13 million linked to Achimugu

Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on Wednesday ordered the final forfeiture of $13 million linked to businesswoman Aisha Achimugu and her company, Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd, to the Federal Government.

The order followed a suit involving the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Oceangate Engineering over the ownership of the funds, which the anti-graft agency said were proceeds of unlawful activities.

Delivering judgment, Justice Nwite held that the company failed to establish the legitimate origin of the money, while the EFCC successfully convinced the court that the funds were proceeds of fraud and liable to forfeiture.

The court dismissed claims by the company that the $13 million represented gifts received by Achimugu, noting that she did not appear before the court to justify the source of the funds.

The judge also observed that no individual alleged to have made such gifts testified in support of the claim.

Justice Nwite ruled that the burden of proof placed on the applicant to establish lawful ownership of the funds was not discharged.

He added that Oceangate did not provide evidence of any business transactions or payments from customers that could account for the sum.

The judge recalled that an interim forfeiture order had earlier been granted on August 22, 2025, directing the EFCC to publish the order in a national newspaper for interested parties to show cause within 14 days why the funds should not be permanently forfeited. No sufficient cause was shown within the stipulated period.

In its application, the EFCC relied on an affidavit deposed to by its investigator, Usman Aliyu, who stated that the commission acted on intelligence indicating that Oceangate Engineering used funds suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities to acquire oil blocks from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission.

Aliyu maintained that the $13 million used by the company to pay signature bonuses for oil blocks PPL 302 and PPL 3007 were not derived from legitimate business operations.

He further stated that part of the funds originated from monies transferred by a state government to contractors for project execution, adding that there was no contractual or business relationship between Oceangate and the contractors who transferred the funds.

According to the investigator, the contractors were neither investors, directors nor shareholders of the company.

However, Oceangate, in its affidavit, urged the court to decline the forfeiture request, arguing that the funds were partly from legitimate business earnings and partly gifts to its Group Chief Executive Officer.

The EFCC opposed the application and urged the court to dismiss it, a position upheld in the final ruling.