The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has ordered the final forfeiture of $13 million linked to businesswoman Aisha Achimugu and her company, Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd, to the Federal Government.
Delivering judgment on Wednesday, March 25, 2026, Justice Emeka Nwite held that the funds were proceeds of unlawful activities, agreeing with the position of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The anti-graft agency had taken the matter to court to determine the ownership of the funds, which it alleged were tied to fraudulent dealings. However, in a suit filed by Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd to reclaim the money, the court ruled that the company failed to provide sufficient evidence to justify its claim.
Justice Nwite noted that the firm could not convincingly explain how it came about the $13 million, adding that the EFCC had successfully demonstrated that the funds were proceeds of fraud and should be forfeited.
The court also dismissed claims that the money represented gifts received by Achimugu through the company. According to the judge, Achimugu did not appear before the court to defend the source of the funds, while no individual was presented to testify to having made such monetary gifts.
He further held that the burden of proof rested on the applicant to establish legitimate ownership of the funds, a requirement the company failed to meet. The judge added that Oceangate did not provide evidence of any business transactions or payments from clients that could justify the sum in question.
The case followed an earlier interim forfeiture order granted by the court on August 22, 2025, which temporarily handed over the funds to the Federal Government. The EFCC was also directed at the time 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 its submission, the EFCC, through an affidavit deposed to by investigator Usman Aliyu, stated that the commission acted on intelligence suggesting that Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd used funds suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities to acquire oil blocks from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).
Aliyu maintained that the $13 million used by the company to pay signature bonuses for oil blocks PPL 302 and PPL 3007 did not originate from legitimate business operations.
He further alleged that part of the funds was traced to payments made by a state government to contractors for public projects, noting that the contractors later transferred the money to Oceangate without any established contractual or business relationship.
According to the EFCC, the contractors involved were neither investors, directors, nor shareholders in the company, raising further concerns about the legitimacy of the transactions.
In response, Oceangate argued that the funds were sourced partly from legitimate business earnings and partly from gifts made to its Group Chief Executive Officer, Aisha Achimugu. The company urged the court to reject the final forfeiture request.
However, the EFCC countered the claim, urging the court to dismiss the application, a position ultimately upheld in the court’s ruling.