Court says prolonged account freeze breached due process, rule of law.

The Court of Appeal sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, has ruled against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over the prolonged freezing of 124 bank accounts linked to businesswoman Aisha Achimugu, describing the continued restriction as an abuse of court process and a violation of the rule of law.
In a unanimous judgment delivered by a three-member panel led by Justice Muhammad Ibrahim Sirajo, alongside Justices Ishaq Mohammed Sani and Eleojo Enenche, the appellate court discharged and set aside the ex parte order obtained by the EFCC in April 2025 to freeze the accounts of Achimugu and companies associated with her.
The court also overturned an earlier Federal High Court order directing the reversal of ₦1.8 billion transferred from a SunTrust Bank account to a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)/EFCC recovery account. However, the appellate court made it clear that setting aside the order did not amount to declaring the EFCC’s transfer of the funds lawful.
The dispute began on April 10, 2025, when the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, presided over by Justice Turaki Adamu, granted the EFCC’s ex parte application to freeze 124 bank accounts allegedly linked to Achimugu, founder of Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd. The order instructed the affected banks to halt outward transactions from the accounts.
Achimugu later challenged the continued enforcement of the order, alleging that despite the freeze, the EFCC directed SunTrust Bank through a letter dated April 24, 2025, to transfer funds from one of the affected accounts into a CBN/EFCC recovery account. On August 27, 2025, the Federal High Court ruled that the transfer of ₦1.8 billion from a SunTrust Bank account was illegal and ordered the funds returned, prompting the EFCC to appeal.
In its judgment, the Court of Appeal agreed with the EFCC that the ₦1.8 billion was held in a fixed deposit account that was different from the current accounts specifically listed in the original freezing order. The court noted that Drive.FGC.Net’s current account contained about ₦50.5 million, while Felak Concepts Ltd’s account held about ₦16.2 million, making it impossible for either account to have produced the disputed ₦1.8 billion. It therefore set aside the order directing the reversal of the funds but stressed that this did not validate the EFCC’s decision to transfer the money.
The appellate court also dismissed the EFCC’s claims that the Federal High Court acted improperly by delivering its judgment during the court’s annual vacation and that the commission was denied fair hearing. It held that delivering a reserved judgment during the vacation did not amount to conducting general court business and did not prejudice the proceedings. The court further observed that both parties had filed affidavits and counter-affidavits, meaning they were adequately heard.
On the broader issue of the account freeze, the Court of Appeal held that an ex parte order is meant to serve as a temporary measure pending the determination of the substantive case. Allowing the restriction to remain in place for more than 15 months, it ruled, amounted to an abuse of court process and undermined the rule of law.
Consequently, the court discharged and vacated the April 10, 2025 ex parte order freezing the 124 bank accounts belonging to Achimugu and the companies linked to her, effectively bringing the prolonged restrictions to an end.
The judgment represents a mixed outcome for the EFCC. While the commission succeeded in overturning the Federal High Court’s order on the ₦1.8 billion after establishing that the disputed account was not covered by the original freezing order, it lost its bid to sustain the prolonged freezing of the 124 accounts, with the Court of Appeal declaring the continued restrictions unlawful.