An Abuja Federal High Court, on Wednesday, granted an order for final forfeiture of the sum of $13 million linked to a business woman, Ms Aisha Achimugu, to the Federal Government.
Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja gave the order against Achimugu and her company, Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had dragged Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd before the court regarding the ownership of $13m suspected to be proceeds of fraud and unlawful activities.
Delivering judgment in a suit instituted by Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd to claim the funds, Justice Nwite held that the company failed woefully to establish how it came about the money.
He, however, stressed that the EFCC succeeded in convincing the court that the funds are proceeds of fraud and should be forfeited to the government.
The judge dismissed the claims that the $13 million was gifts received into the Oceangate Engineering Company by Aisha Achimugu.
He added that Achimugu never showed up in court to show cause why the funds should not be forfeited to the Federal Government.
Justice Nwite further said no single person who gave the monetary gifts to Achimugu to the tune of $13 million was called to testify.
The judge held that the burden to establish genuine ownership of the money was not established by the applicant to counter the claims of the EFCC that the money was proceeds of fraud, based on its investigation.
According to the judge, Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd did not show the business it undertook that fetched it the money and did not also show whether any payment was made to it by any of its customer.
Recall that Justice Nwite had, on 22 August 2025, granted EFCC an interim order forfeiting the $13 million linked to Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd to the government.
He also directed the anti-graft commission to publish the order in a national daily for interested person(s) to show cause within 14 days why the funds should not be permanently forfeited to the government.
Justifying the forfeiture, EFCC investigator, Usman Aliyu, swore to an affidavit stating that the commission acted on intelligence that showed that Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd, without following due process, used funds reasonably suspected to be proceeds of an unlawful activity to acquire oil blocks from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).
He insisted that the $13 million used by Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd to pay for the Signature Bonuses in respect of PPL302 and PPL3007 were not proceeds of any lawful and legitimate business, but rather represent funds reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activity.
According to him, part of the funds used by Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd to pay for the Signature bonuses in respect of PPL 302 & PPL 3007 was derived from the huge sum of money transferred by a state government to the contractors for the execution of contracts for the benefit of the state.
The investigator further alleged that there were never any contractual or business relationships between Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd and the contractors who transferred the aforementioned public funds to the account of the company.
According to him the contractors who transferred the aforementioned public funds to Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd, were neither investors, directors, nor shareholders in the company.
But Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd, in its affidavit, urged the court not to make the order of final forfeiture of the funds because all the funds were derived partly from legitimate earnings of the company and partly gifts given to its Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO), Aisha Achimugu.
Responding to the affidavit by Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd, EFCC prayed the court to dismiss the application.
Aliyu, who also swore an affidavit on behalf of the EFCC, said the commission found that Iliya Wakil, who swore to Oceangate’s affidavit, was a mere nominal director with no shareholding status of the company.
Besides, the investigator said Wakil was an employee of Felak Concept Group Limited, also owned by Achimugu, and incorporated on 5 May, 2000.
According to him, Wakil admitted, in his extrajudicial statement to his team on 15 April 2025, that he had worked with Felak Concept from 2000 to date.
He said Wakil also admitted that he held so many positions, “among which are Manager Admin, General Manager Admin and Finance and presently Group General Manager Admin and Finance.”
Aliyu further said 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 Wakil drawing a salary from Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd.
Besides, he said Wakil admitted in his extra-judicial statement that he got all his instructions from Ms Achimugu and he, in turn, gave the same instructions to Mr Chiroma, via telephone conversation.
Aliyu described Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd 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.
“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 the modus operandi of Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd is to acquire “petroleum-related assets with tainted funds.”
