Federal High Court Orders Final Forfeiture of $13 Million Linked to Oceangate Engineering
Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the final forfeiture of $13 million associated with Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd., owned by Lagos socialite Aisha Achimugu.
The ruling was made based on the inability of both Oceangate and Achimugu to demonstrate the legal provenance of the funds in question. The court mandated the Nigerian federal government to seize the money, which was traced and recovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission’s accounts at the Central Bank of Nigeria, citing reasonable suspicion that these funds are the result of illicit activities.
This ruling followed an EFCC petition seeking the final forfeiture of the funds. The court dismissed the claims made by Oceangate’s lawyer, Darlington Ozurumba, who asserted that the $13 million was derived from gifts to Achimugu as well as proceeds from oil and gas contracts. Justice Nwite emphasized that such assertions were not substantiated with credible evidence.
The court also rejected Oceangate’s argument regarding jurisdiction over the interim confiscation order originally issued on August 22, 2025, stating that the claims lacked adequate legal backing. The judge pointed out that the applicant was unable to clarify how the funds were obtained, labeling the claims of gifts and contract-related proceeds as mere insinuations lacking specificity.
In his ruling, Justice Nwite supported the EFCC’s legal arguments, asserting that the agency complied with relevant laws, including FHC Order 46(5) and Section 17 of the Advance Payment Fraud Act of 2006, when requesting the final forfeiture. He stated that the evidence presented confirmed that Oceangate had not met its legal obligation to prove the legitimacy of the funds, while the EFCC had sufficiently demonstrated grounds for the forfeiture.
Evidence submitted by anti-corruption investigator Usman Aliyu indicated that Oceangate allegedly utilized funds suspected of being derived from illegal activities to secure oil blocks from the NUPRC without proper procedural compliance. Aliyu’s investigations revealed that Oceangate had participated in major oil concession license tenders in 2024 and became a successful bidder under conditions that triggered substantial financial obligations amounting to $37.2 million.
Furthermore, Aliyu noted that vast sums of money were transferred by Oceangate to the federal government through various channels, raising concerns regarding the legitimacy of those transactions. According to his affidavit, parts of the $13 million believed to be used for signing bonuses linked to the oil blocks were allegedly sourced in collaboration with unlicensed currency exchange operators and bank officials, thereby raising significant red flags about their origin.
In response, Oceangate’s director, Ilya Wakil, filed an affidavit asserting that the $13 million in question was legitimate, obtained from a combination of company profits and personal gifts. He contended that the company had not engaged in any illicit activities nor colluded with unregistered operators, arguing that the BDC agent mentioned by the EFCC was acting independently and legally. Wakil emphasized the importance of the funds and sought to overturn the interim forfeiture order, claiming it lacked proper jurisdiction and contradicted fair trial principles.
