The Federal High Court, Abuja Division, on Wednesday, made an order for final forfeiture of $13 million linked to Aisha Achimugu’s Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd.
Justice Emeka Nwite, in a ruling on the motion for final forfeiture of the funds filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, held that neither the company nor Ms Achimugu had shown to the court that the funds were legitimately obtained.
Mr Nwite held that the argument by Oceangate’s lawyer, Darlington Ozurumba, that the $13 million came from gifts to Ms Achimugu and earnings from gas and oil-related contracts could not be substantiated by material facts.
The judge also dismissed Mr Ozurumba’s argument that the court lacked jurisdiction to grant the interim forfeiture on August 22, 2025, while sitting as a vacation court.
The judge agreed with the EFCC’s lawyer, Rotimi Oyedepo, that relevant laws, including Order 46(5) of the FHC, Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud Act, 2006, and others, were complied with in granting the order.
Mr Nwite also described the argument that the anti-graft agency was a meddlesome interloper—since no person or corporate body had approached it to complain that their money was missing—as “baseless”.
Ms Achimugu, was arrested by EFCC in April 2025 after being declared wanted by the commission.
In January, the court set March 25 for ruling on an application filed by the EFCC for a final forfeiture order on $13 million linked to Ms Achimugu’s firm.
On August 22, 2025, the judge granted the anti-graft agency’s ex parte motion for an interim order forfeiting $13 million linked to Oceangate Ltd to the federal government over allegations that the fund was proceeds of unlawful activity.
The judge then directed the commission to publish the order in a national daily, inviting interested persons to show cause within 14 days why the fund should not be permanently forfeited to the federal government.
EFCC investigator Usman Aliyu deposed that the commission received intelligence alleging that Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Limited used funds reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activity to acquire oil blocks from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission.
Mr Aliyu said their investigation revealed that Oceangate, a limited liability company, was registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission on February 25, 2005, under registration number RC 617736. He said in 2024, Oceangate participated in an oil block licensing bid for deep offshore PPL 302 and shallow water PPL 3007.
He said that after the technical and commercial bid, NUPRC notified the company of its status as the winning bidder and listed the conditions for issuing the licence.
Mr Aliyu said the total financial obligations of Oceangate Ltd to the government before the issuance of the Petroleum Prospecting License were $37,223,144. He said the company transferred millions of dollars to the federal government in instalments through its Zenith Bank account number 5074678281, including $1.1 million, $1.1 million, $3.8 million, $1.2 million, $3.05 million, $2.1 million, and $500,000.
The investigator said that on March 27 and 28, 2025, Providus Bank Limited, acting for and on behalf of Oceangate Engineering Oil and Gas Limited, transferred a total of $7 million to the federal government.
He said his team recovered evidence of these transactions from Providus at the Central Bank of Nigeria via a letter dated June 24, 2025. He said the company paid a total of $20 million to the federal government between March 20, 2025 and April 3, 2025, for the acquisition of PPL 302 and PPL 3007.
The officer alleged that, to fulfil the requirements for payments of the signature bonuses for PPL 302 and PPL 3007, Oceangate conspired with some unlicensed bureau de change operators and bank officials to retain and transfer funds totalling $13 million, which funds are reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activity.
He alleged that the company also procured Suleiman Chiroma, Tirmizi Usman and Dantani Hassan to receive funds reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities from different contractors with the Lagos government.
He said that, to receive and retain funds reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activity from different contractors with Lagos, Dantani Abubakar used his company, Ashrab Energy and Oil Services Limited, with account number 1229255048, domiciled with Zenith Bank Plc.
He said the combined sum of N2, 455, 651, 560 received in both Zenith and Access Bank accounts of Ashrab Energy was converted to U.S. dollars and subsequently transferred to Oceangate’s Zenith Bank account for onward payment for the signature bonus of the two oil blocks, PPL 302 and PPL 3007, allocated to the company, among other averments.
Mr Aliyu insisted that the $13 million used by Oceangate to pay for the signature bonuses for PPL302 and PPL3007 were not proceeds of any lawful and legitimate business of Oceangate but rather represent funds reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activity.
According to him, part of the funds Oceangate Engineering Oil and Gas Limited used to pay the Signature bonuses for PPL 302 & PPL 3007 was derived from the huge sum transferred by the Lagos government to contractors for the execution of contracts for the state’s benefit.
The investigator alleged that there was never any contractual or business relationship between Oceangate and the contractors who transferred the aforementioned public funds to the company’s (Oceangate Engineering) account. He said the contractors, who transferred the aforementioned public funds to Oceangate, were neither investors, directors, nor shareholders in Oceangate.
Mr Aliyu, who said he made the deposition in good faith, said it would be in the interest of justice and public policy to grant the application. But Oceangate, in its affidavit to show cause deposed to by one of the company’s directors, Iliya Wakil, said it came to his knowledge that the court made an order of interim forfeiture of the company’s $13 million used to pay for the signature bonuses of Deep Offshore PPL 302 and Shallow Water PPL 3007 between March 20, 2025 and April 3, 2025.
Mr Wakil prayed the court not to make the order of final forfeiture of the funds, as the funds were derived partly from the company’s legitimate earnings and partly from gifts given to the company’s group chief executive officer, Ms Achimugu.
He disagreed that the company did not conspire with any unregistered BDC operator and bank officials to retain and transfer the sum or any sum of money whatsoever which had anything to do with unlawful activity.
He argued that Mr Chiroma, referred to by the EFCC in its application for interim forfeiture, is a licensed BDC agent engaged lawfully by the company to help it source the dollars needed to settle the signature bonuses of PPL 302 and PPL 3007 oil blocks, respectively, as payment was required in dollars by the Nigerian government.
He stated that Mr Chiroma acted independently and without any control by Oceangate Limited. The director said the company did not know Mr Hassan or the company known as Ashrab Energy and Oil Services Limited.
Besides, he said Oceangate did not know Mr Usman and Tripple A & Tee Oil Nigeria Limited, adding that the company had never met, dealt with or transacted with any of the persons statéd in paragraphs 15 and 16 of the EFCC’s affidavit in any manner or for any reason whatsoever.
He said Oceangate relied fully on the avowed expertise of Mr Chiroma, a licensed BDC agent, who believed he followed due process in sourcing all the funds remitted to the company for the purpose of settling the signature bonuses as stated.
He said the entire naira swapped for dollars came from legitimate sources, and he attached the company’s audited accounts as exhibits.
Oceangate, in a motion on notice filed with the affidavit to show cause, sought an order setting aside the order of interim forfeiture of $13 million, which it claimed was its property.
The company argued that the order was made by the court without the requisite jurisdiction and in violation of the principle of fair hearing. But the EFCC, in its reply to Oceangate’s affidavit to show cause, urged the court to dismiss the application.
Mr Aliyu, who also deposed to the affidavit on behalf of the commission, said they found that Mr Wakil, who deposed to Oceangate’s affidavit to show cause, was a mere nominal director with no shareholding status in the company.
Additionally, the investigator stated that Mr Wakil was an employee of Felak Concept Group Limited, which Ms Achimugu also owned and which was incorporated on May 5, 2000. He said Mr Wakil admitted in his extrajudicial statement to his team on April 15, 2025, that he had worked with Felak Concept from 2000 to date.
He said Mr Wakil also admitted that he held many positions, “among which are manager admin, general manager admin and finance and presently group general manager admin and finance”.
He said Mr Wakil also stated that he had consistently drawn his monthly salary from his known employer, Felak Concept and WishWhich Koncept Limited. He argued that there was no record of Mr Wakil drawing a salary from Oceangate.
Besides, the officer said Mr Wakil admitted in his extrajudicial statement that he received all his instructions from Ms Achimugu, the GCEO, and that Ms Achimugu, in turn, gave the same instructions to Mr Chiroma via telephone.
Mr Aliyu described Oceangate as “a briefcase/shell company created as a vehicle for the purpose of holding petroleum-related assets procured with funds reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activity”.
He said, “Hence, describing the company as ‘a professional oil and gas consortium, operating in diverse sectors of the oil and gas sectors of the Nigerian economy’, is nothing but describing the devil as an angel of light.”
He alleged that Oceangate’s modus operandi is to acquire “petroleum-related assets with tainted funds”.
The officer said the $13 million in proceeds that the court had forfeited to the federal government in the interim were not the proceeds of any lawful, legitimate, provable, known, or justifiable income of the company.
Mr Aliyu also averred that Oceangate equally procured an auditor, Godwin Ukah, to prepare an audit report, which was attached to its affidavit to show cause as an exhibit.
He said Mr Ukah was invited to the EFCC’s office, after which he volunteered his extrajudicial statement and admitted that he did not see the various account statements of Oceangate when he prepared the audit report.
Besides, he said, Mr Ukah admitted that Oceangate had not actively earned from oil and gas exploration. He said Mr Ukah, who prepared the audit report attached as an exhibit, relied solely on a memorandum of understanding and not the financial books of Oceangate.
Mr Aliyu said his team also invited Ms Achimugu, the GCEO of Oceangate, who volunteered to provide an extrajudicial statement.
According to him, Ms Achimugu admitted in her extrajudicial statement that she had the most significant control of Oceangate Oil and Gas Limited. He said the businesswoman also admitted that Oceangate Oil & Gas Limited does not currently enter into contracts, nor has it carried out any contracts in the private or public sector.
The investigator told the court that it would be in the interest of justice to forfeit the $13 million to the federal government, as it had been reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activity.
Mr Nwite had, on September 15, 2025, ordered the final forfeiture of $7 million lodged at the Providus Bank branch in Ikoyi, Lagos, which the EFCC recovered after no one came forward to claim the funds.
A company, Felak Concept Group Limited, later issued a statement to dismiss reports linking its GCEO, Ms Achimugu, and its subsidiary, Oceangate Engineering Oil and Gas Ltd, to the controversial $7 million cash transaction allegedly tied to Providus Bank.
