A Federal High Court in Abuja has set March 25 as the date to deliver a ruling on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s (EFCC) application for a final forfeiture order of $13 million linked to Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd, a company associated with Aisha Achimugu. The court’s decision comes after the EFCC’s lawyer, Rotimi Oyedepo, and Oceangate’s counsel, Darlington Ozurumba, presented their arguments for and against the case.
The EFCC had earlier obtained an interim order to forfeit the $13 million, which it alleged was a proceed of unlawful activity. The commission’s investigator, Usman Aliyu, stated that Oceangate used funds suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activity to acquire oil blocks from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC). The company allegedly conspired with unlicensed Bureau de Change (BDC) operators and bank officials to retain and transfer the funds.
Oceangate, however, denied the allegations, stating that the funds were derived from legitimate earnings and gifts given to the company’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Aisha Achimugu. The company’s director, Iliya Wakil, claimed that the company relied on the expertise of a licensed BDC agent, Suleiman Chiroma, to source the funds needed to pay for the signature bonuses of the oil blocks.
The EFCC countered that Wakil was a mere nominal director with no shareholding status in the company and that Oceangate was a “briefcase/shell company” created to hold petroleum-related assets procured with tainted funds. The commission also alleged that the company’s auditor, Godwin Ukah, prepared an audit report without seeing the company’s account statements and that the company had not actively earned from oil and gas exploration.
The court’s ruling on the final forfeiture of the $13 million will have significant implications for Oceangate and its associated individuals. The case highlights the ongoing efforts of the EFCC to combat financial crimes and recover proceeds of unlawful activity in Nigeria. The outcome of the case will be closely watched, as it may set a precedent for similar cases in the future.
