Achimugu’s Firm Loses $13m to Federal Government Over Alleged Fraud Proceeds

A Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday ordered the permanent 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 (EFCC) had brought 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 held that the company failed to give a credible explanation regarding the source of the funds. He ruled that the EFCC had successfully established that the money constituted proceeds of fraud and should therefore be forfeited to the government.
The court dismissed 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 observed that none of the alleged donors appeared to testify in support of the claim.
According to the court, the burden of proving lawful ownership of the funds was not discharged, as the company failed to provide any evidence of legitimate business transactions or client payments to account for the money.
The judge recalled that an interim forfeiture order had earlier been granted on August 22, 2025, alongside 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 did not originate from legitimate business activities but were reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful conduct.