The Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday affirmed the final forfeiture of $13 million to the federal government by Lagos socialite Aisha Achimugu and her company, Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd.
Justice Emeka Nwite delivered the verdict, ruling that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had properly proven the cash as the proceeds of fraud and illicit activities. activities.
The court ruled in a lawsuit filed by Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd, which sought to retrieve the payments.
Justice Nwite ruled that the corporation failed to sufficiently explain the source of the funds, noting that the EFCC met all legal requirements to justify its forfeiture.
The judge denied arguments that the $13 million were gifts received by Oceangate through Achimugu, noting that Achimugu did not appear in court to explain why the cash should not be forfeited.
He further noted that no one who purportedly made the monetary presents was invited to testify.
According to the court, the applicant failed to meet the burden of demonstrating genuine possession of the assets or to refute the EFCC’s claim that the funds were the proceeds of fraud.
The judge also determined that Oceangate did not demonstrate any commercial activity that generated the monies, nor did it provide evidence of consumer payments.
On August 22, 2025, Justice Nwite granted the EFCC’s ex parte plea for the interim forfeiture of the cash, mandating the anti-graft agency to publish the order in a national daily and for interested parties to show cause after 14 days.
In an affidavit testified to by an EFCC investigator, Usman Aliyu, the commission stated that it obtained intelligence claiming that Oceangate utilized cash alleged to be proceeds of illegal activity to acquire oil blocks from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission.
Aliyu stated that investigations revealed that the company participated in the 2024 oil block licensing bid for deep offshore PPL302 and shallow water PPL3007 and was certified a winner.
He stated that the company’s financial obligations to the government before the issuance of the Petroleum Prospecting License totaled $37.2 million.
According to him, Oceangate made repeated payments to the federal government via its Zenith Bank account in multimillion-dollar tranches.
He went on to say that between March 20 and April 3, 2025, the company spent a total of $20 million to acquire the oil blocks.
The EFCC, on the other hand, claimed that the corporation colluded with unlicensed Bureau de Change operators and bank officials to get $13 million in cash, presumed to be the proceeds of illegal activities, in order to pay signature bonuses.
The affidavit described how cash was reportedly collected by intermediaries in Abuja and Lagos without going through financial institutions and then channeled for the transactions.
Aliyu also claimed that cash connected to contractors working for the Lagos State Government was converted to dollars and sent to Oceangate’s accounts.
He insisted that the $13 million utilized for the signing bonuses “were not proceeds of any lawful and legitimate business but rather represent funds reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activity.”
He added that the contractors who moved the funds had no business, ownership, or investment ties to Oceangate.
In its defense, Oceangate asked the court to overturn the interim forfeiture decision in an affidavit signed by one of its directors, Iliya Wakil.
The corporation claimed that the cash was obtained from legitimate earnings and gifts given to its group CEO, Achimugu.
It denied any involvement in illegal financial transactions or collusion with unregistered BDC firms.
Wakil asserted that a certified BDC agent, Suleiman Chiroma, was hired to get the necessary foreign exchange and worked independently.
He further denied any relationship with the EFCC-named people and businesses, such as Ashrab Energy and Oil Services Limited and Tripple A & Tee Oil Nigeria Limited.
The corporation further claimed that the interim forfeiture order was issued without jurisdiction and in violation of its right to a fair hearing.
However, in its counter-affidavit, the EFCC portrayed Wakil as a nominal director with no shareholding and said that he followed Achimugu’s instructions.
The commission also described Oceangate as “a briefcase/shell company created as a vehicle for the purpose of holding petroleum-related assets procured with funds reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activity.”
“Hence, describing the company as ‘a professional oil and gas consortium, operating in diverse sectors of the oil and gas sectors of the Nigerian economy,’ is nothing but describing the devil as an angel of light,” Aliyu wrote.
The commission also claimed that an audit report submitted by the company was untrustworthy, noting that the auditor admitted he did not study the company’s financial accounts before drafting the report.
Aliyu also stated that in her extrajudicial testimony, Achimugu confessed having major control over the company and admitting that it had not signed any contracts in the oil and gas sector.
The EFCC urged the court to uphold the forfeiture in the interest of justice, arguing that the cash was reasonably suspected of being the proceeds of illegal activities.
Justice Nwite then disregarded the company’s allegations and upheld the confiscation of $13 million to the federal government.
On September 15, 2025, the court ordered the final forfeiture of $7 million recovered from a Providus Bank branch in Ikoyi, Lagos, when no claimant came forward.
Meanwhile, Felak Concept Group Limited had previously refuted allegations linking its group CEO, Achimugu, and its company, Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd., to the contentious $7 million deal.
