EFCC Wins as Court Orders Permanent Seizure of $13m from Achimugu’s Firm

A Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday ordered the permanent forfeiture of $13 million associated with businesswoman Aisha Achimugu and her company, Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd, to the Federal Government.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had dragged the company before the court over the ownership of the funds, alleging that the money was obtained through fraudulent and unlawful means.
Delivering judgment, Justice Emeka Nwite ruled that the company failed to provide a credible explanation for the source of the funds. He held that the EFCC had successfully proven that the money was proceeds of fraud and should be forfeited to the government.
The court rejected the claim that the $13 million was a gift received on behalf of Aisha Achimugu, noting that she did not appear before the court to defend the funds or justify why they should not be forfeited.
Justice Nwite also pointed out that none of the alleged donors came forward to testify in support of the claim.
According to the court, the burden of proving lawful ownership of the money was not met, as the company failed to present any evidence of legitimate business transactions or client payments to account for the funds.
The judge recalled that an interim forfeiture order had earlier been granted on August 22, 2025, with a directive for the EFCC to publish the order in a national newspaper, inviting interested parties to show cause within 14 days why the funds should not be permanently forfeited.
In an affidavit supporting the case, EFCC investigator Usman Aliyu stated that the commission acted on intelligence indicating that Oceangate Engineering Limited used suspected illicit funds to acquire oil blocks from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission without following due process.
He further explained that the $13 million used to pay signature bonuses for oil blocks PPL302 and PPL3007 were not from legitimate business activities but were reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful conduct.