•Ms Aisha Achimugu
The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Wednesday, ordered final forfeiture of the sum of $13 million that was linked to a Lagos socialite, Ms Aisha Achimugu and her company, Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Limited.
The court, in a judgment delivered by Justice Emeka Nwite, held that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had successfully established that the money was proceeds of fraud and unlawful activities, reports Vanguard.
It held that neither Achimugu nor her company were able to prove how the fund was legitimately acquired.
The court dismissed as balderdash the claim that the $13 million was an accumulation of gifts that Oceangate Engineering Company Ltd received through Ms Achimugu.
Justice Nwite noted that although it was the company that approached the court to lay claim to the funds, Achimugu whom it claimed received the monetary gifts failed to appear during the proceedings to show cause why the money should not be forfeited to the federal government.
Furthermore, the court stressed that none of the persons who allegedly offered the monetary gift to Achimugu was called to testify before it to establish the claim.
It held that the company failed to discharge the legal burden of proving genuine ownership of the money, as required to counter the EFCC’s claim that its investigations showed the $13 million was proceeds of fraud.
According to the court, the company failed to demonstrate the business activities that generated the funds, and it adduced no evidence showing how any customer made payments.
Consequently, the court ordered that the fund be forfeited to the FG.
It will be recalled that Justice Nwite had, on August 22, 2025, issued an interim order for the temporary forfeiture of the funds, even as he directed the EFCC to make a publication inviting anyone who had an interest in the money to show cause why it should not be seized by the federal government as proceeds of fraud.
Following the interim order, Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd filed an application wherein it insisted that the money genuinely belonged to it, being gifts received by its principal, Achimugu.
The EFCC stated in an affidavit deposed to by one of its investigators, Usman Aliyu, that it received credible intelligence that the company had, without recourse to due process, used funds reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities to acquire oil blocs from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).
It told the court that investigations also revealed that the company which was registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, on 25 February 2005 with number: RC 617736, had in 2024, participated in an oil bloc licensing bid for deep offshore PPL302 and shallow water- PPL 3007.
The anti-graft agency disclosed that upon completion of technical and commercial bid, NUPRC notified the company of its winning bidder status and the condition precedent to be fulfilled before issuance of a licence to the company.
EFCC said it was discovered that the total financial obligations of Oceangate Ltd to the government before the issuance of the Petroleum Prospecting License (PPL) to it, was $37.2 million ($37, 223,144).
It added that the company, through its Zenith Bank account number – 5074678281 – at different installments, transferred millions of dollars to the FG, in tranches of $1.1 million, $1.1 million, $3.8 million, $1.2 million, $3.05 million, $2.1 million, and $500, 000.
The EFCC told the court that on March 27 and 28, 2025, Providus Bank Limited, acting for and on behalf of Oceangate Engineering Oil and Gas Limited, transferred the total sum of $7 million to the FG.
Aliyu said his team recovered from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), evidence of the transactions that passed through Providus Bank Limited, via a letter dated June 24,02025.
He said the company had between March 20 2025 and April 3, 2025, paid the total sum of $20 million to the FG for the acquisition of the PPL 302 and PPL 3007.
More so, he averred that to fulfil the requirements for payments of the signature bonuses for PPL 302 and PPL 3007, the company conspired with some unlicensed Bureau de Change operators and bank officials to retain and transfer funds totalling $13 million, saying the funds were reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activity.
“That one Suleiman Muhammed Chiroma was procured and aided by Oceangate Engineering Oil and Gas Limited to collect through his associates in cash and without going through a financial institution, both in Abuja and Lagos the total sum of $13,000,000.00.
“That whilst acting in concert with Oceangate Limited, Muhammed Chiroma engaged one Dantani Abubakar Hassan of Ashrab Energy and Oil Services Limited and one Tirmizi Muhammed Usman of Tripple A & Tee Oil Nigeria Limited, to collect the said $9 million in cash and without going through a financial Institution for the sole purpose of using same to pay for the signature bonuses of the two oil blocks allocated to Oceangate Oil and Gas Limited,” the deponent added.
The court was further told that the company also procured some persons identified as Chiroma, Tirmizi Usman and Dantani Hassan, to receive funds reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities from different contractors with the Lagos State Government.
EFCC disclosed that to receive and retain funds reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activity from different contractors with Lagos State, Dantani Abubakar used his company, Ashrab Energy and Oil Services Limited, with account number 1229255048 domiciled in Zenith Bank Plc.
“That whilst still working in concert with Oceangate Engineering Oil and Gas Limited and Suleiman Chiroma, Dantani Abubakar used his company, Ashrab Energy and Oil Services Limited with account Number 1907084038 domiciled in Access Bank Plc to receive and retain the total sum of N855, 057, 560.00 from different contractors executing contracts for and on behalf of the Lagos State Government which sum reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activity,” the investigator added.
He said the combined sum of N2, 455, 651, 560.00 received in both Zenith and Access Bank accounts of Ashrab Energy were converted to US dollars and subsequently transferred same to Oceangate’s Zenith Bank account for onward payment for the signature bonus of the two oil blocks – PPL 302 and PPL 3007 allocated to the company, among other averments.
Aliyu insisted that the $13 million used by the company to pay for the Signature Bonuses in respect of PPL302 and PPL3007 were not proceeds of any lawful and legitimate business but rather represent funds reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activity.
However, in its own affidavit that was deposed to by one of its directors, Iliya Wakil, the company prayed the court not to issue an order of final forfeiture of the funds which it said were derived partly from legitimate earnings of the company and partly gifts given to the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Company, Achimugu.
It denied EFCC’s allegations, saying it did not conspire with unregistered BDC operators or bank officials to retain or transfer illicit funds.
