Why court ordered forfeiture of $13m linked to businesswoman Achimugu

By Editor

The Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday, March 25, ordered the final forfeiture of $13 million linked to businesswoman Aisha Achimugu and her company, Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd, to the Federal Government.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had taken the firm before the court over the ownership of the funds, which the EFCC claimed were “proceeds of fraud and unlawful activities.”

On Wednesday, Justice Emeka Nwite held that the company failed to prove how the money was legitimately acquired. He therefore ruled that the EFCC had established that the funds were proceeds of unlawful activities and should be forfeited to the government.

The court stoutly rejected claims that the $13m was made up of gifts received by Achimugu. It noted that she did not appear before the court to justify the source of the funds. The judge also observed that no individual was called to testify as having given such gifts.

Justice Nwite further held that the company did not provide evidence of any business transactions that generated the funds, nor did it show proof of payments from clients.

The court had earlier, on August 22, 2025, granted an interim forfeiture order and directed the EFCC to publish the order for any interested party to show cause within 14 days why the funds should not be permanently forfeited.

In an affidavit, an EFCC investigator, Usman Aliyu, stated that the commission acted on intelligence indicating that Oceangate Engineering used funds suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities to acquire oil blocks from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission.

He added that the $13 million used to pay for signature bonuses in respect of oil assets was not from legitimate business earnings but funds suspected to be linked to unlawful activities.

Aliyu further stated that part of the money was traced to funds transferred by a state government to contractors for projects, adding that the contractors had no business relationship with Oceangate and were neither investors nor shareholders in the company.

However, Oceangate, in its response, urged the court not to grant the final forfeiture, insisting that the funds were partly from legitimate business earnings and partly gifts to its Group Chief Executive Officer.

The EFCC, in its reply, asked the court to dismiss the application.

Justice Nwite subsequently upheld the commission’s position and ordered the final forfeiture of the $13 million to the Federal Government.

Gwg.