Court Upholds Final Forfeiture of $13m Linked to Aisha Achimugu

A Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday upheld the final forfeiture of $13 million linked to Lagos socialite, Aisha Achimugu, and her firm, Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd, to the Federal Government.

 

Delivering judgment, Justice Emeka Nwite ruled that the funds had been sufficiently proven by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to be proceeds of fraud and unlawful activities.

 

The decision followed a suit filed by Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd seeking to reclaim the forfeited sum.

 

Justice Nwite held that the company failed to provide a satisfactory explanation for the source of the funds, noting that the EFCC met all legal requirements to justify the forfeiture.

 

He dismissed claims that the money represented gifts received by the company through Achimugu, stressing that the socialite did not appear before the court to defend the funds.

 

The judge also observed that none of the individuals alleged to have made the gifts were presented as witnesses.

 

According to the court, the applicant failed to discharge the burden of proving legitimate ownership or to rebut the EFCC’s position that the funds were proceeds of fraud.

 

Justice Nwite further held that Oceangate did not demonstrate any legitimate business activity capable of generating such funds, nor did it present evidence of payments from customers.

 

The court recalled that it had earlier granted an interim forfeiture of the sum on August 22, 2025, following an ex parte application by the EFCC, with a directive for the order to be published in a national daily for interested parties to show cause.

 

In an affidavit deposed to by an EFCC investigator, Usman Aliyu, the commission said intelligence reports indicated that Oceangate deployed suspected illicit funds to acquire oil blocks from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission.

 

Investigations, according to the EFCC, revealed that the company participated in the 2024 oil block licensing bid for deep offshore PPL302 and shallow water PPL3007, emerging as a successful bidder.

 

The commission further disclosed that Oceangate had financial obligations of $37.2 million to the Federal Government prior to the issuance of the Petroleum Prospecting Licence.

 

Aliyu stated that the company made multiple payments through its Zenith Bank account, including a total of $20 million paid between March 20 and April 3, 2025, towards the acquisition of the oil blocks.

 

The court ultimately held that the circumstances surrounding the transactions reinforced the EFCC’s case that the funds were not lawfully acquired, thereby affirming their forfeiture to the Federal Government.