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The Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday affirmed the final forfeiture of $13 million linked to Lagos socialite Aisha Achimugu and her company, Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd, handing the funds to the Federal Government after a prolonged legal dispute.
Justice Emeka Nwite ruled that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission successfully established that the money represented proceeds of fraud and unlawful activities. The court dismissed a suit filed by Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd seeking to reclaim the funds.
Court Rejects Oceangate's Bid to Reclaim Funds
Nwite held that the company failed to provide a satisfactory explanation for the origin of the money. The judge said the anti-graft agency met all legal thresholds required to justify the forfeiture and rejected the claim that the funds were gifts received through Achimugu.
The court noted that Achimugu did not personally appear to defend the source of the funds. It also observed that none of the individuals alleged to have made the monetary gifts were presented as witnesses, a gap the court found fatal to the company's position.
According to the judgment, Oceangate failed to discharge the burden of proving legitimate ownership. The judge added that the company did not demonstrate any business activity capable of generating the amount in dispute and provided no evidence of payments from customers. The ruling underscored that unexplained wealth, particularly where a company cannot show a credible revenue trail, is sufficient grounds for permanent forfeiture under Nigerian anti-corruption statutes.
Nwite had earlier granted an interim forfeiture order on Aug. 22, 2025, following an ex parte application by the EFCC. The commission was directed to publish the order in a national newspaper, allowing interested parties 14 days to show cause why the money should not be permanently forfeited. No credible response was filed within that window.
EFCC Investigator Links Funds to Oil Block Acquisition
In an affidavit filed by EFCC investigator Usman Aliyu, the commission said intelligence reports suggested Oceangate used funds suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities to acquire oil blocks from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission.
Investigators stated that the company participated in the 2024 oil block licensing round for deep offshore PPL302 and shallow water PPL3007 and emerged a successful bidder. The company's total financial obligations before issuance of the Petroleum Prospecting Licence were placed at $37.2 million, a sum the EFCC argued the company could not have legitimately sourced.
Oceangate Made $20 Million in Payments Through Zenith Bank
Aliyu said Oceangate made several payments to the Federal Government through its Zenith Bank account in tranches running into millions of dollars. Between March 20 and April 3, 2025, the company paid a total of $20 million toward the acquisition of the oil blocks.
The EFCC argued those transactions were funded with illicit proceeds, a position the court accepted. The final forfeiture order now transfers the $13 million permanently to the Federal Government, with no further legal avenue available to Oceangate under the current proceedings.
