Abuja, March 25, 2026 — Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in 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 of Nigeria (FGN).
Delivering judgment in a suit filed by Oceangate to reclaim the funds, Justice Nwite held that the company failed woefully to explain the source of the money. At the same time, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) proved that the $13m were proceeds of fraud and unlawful activities.
The judge dismissed Oceangate’s claim that the money came partly from legitimate earnings and partly from gifts to Achimugu, noting that Achimugu did not appear in court to defend the funds and no alleged donor testified.
According to the ruling, Oceangate did not demonstrate any business that generated the sum or show client payments to justify it.
The court emphasised that the burden of establishing lawful ownership rested with the applicant, which Oceangate failed to discharge.
The case stems from EFCC’s investigation into how Oceangate funded signature bonuses for oil blocks PPL 302 and PPL 3007.
EFCC investigator, Usman Aliyu, in an affidavit, said intelligence showed the company used funds “reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activity” to acquire the blocks from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).
Aliyu said the $13m used for the signature bonuses was not from legitimate business, and part of the money was traced to payments by a state government to contractors, which were then moved to Oceangate without any contractual relationship.
He added that the contractors were neither investors, directors nor shareholders in Oceangate.
Aliyu further described Oceangate as a “briefcase/shell company created for the purpose of holding petroleum-related assets procured with funds reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activity”.
The EFCC also challenged the credibility of Oceangate’s affidavit, saying it was deposed to by Iliya Wakil, a nominal director without shareholding who drew his salary from Achimugu’s other company, Felak Concept Group Ltd, not from Oceangate.
Justice Nwite had earlier granted an interim forfeiture on August 22, 2025, and directed the EFCC to publish the order in a national daily, giving interested parties 14 days to show cause why the funds should not be permanently forfeited.
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