WorldStage– Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja, the Nigeria’s federal capital, has ordered the final forfeiture of $13 million traced to businesswoman, Aisha Achimugu and her company, Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd, to the Nigerian Government.
The court affirmed the permanent forfeiture on Wednesday, March 25, 2026, after the defendants failed to prove the funds were legitimately earned.
In September 2025, the same court had ordered the final forfeiture of another $7 million linked to Achimugu that was discovered in a Providus Bank vault.
Between March and April 2025, Achimugu’s firm reportedly paid a total of $20 million for oil assets, which the EFCC has now successfully argued are proceeds of crime.
In a judgment on Wednesday, Justice Nwite held that the foreign currency has been well established by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to be proceeds of fraud and unlawful activities.
Delivering judgment in a suit instituted by
Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd to claim the fund, the judge held that the company failed woefully to establish how it came about the money.
On the contrary, Justice Nwite said the EFCC satisfied all requirements for the fund to be classified as proceeds of fraud and to be forfeited to the appropriate authority.
The judge dismissed the claims that the
$13 million was gifts received by Oceangate Engineering Company through Aisha Achimugu, adding that the said Aisha Achimugu never came to the court to show cause on why the huge fund should not be forfeited to the Federal Government.
Justice Nwite also noted that no single person who gave the monetary gift to Aisha Achimugu to the tune of $13 million was called to testify.
Investigators testified that Oceangate is a “briefcase/shell company” with no record of legitimate oil and gas operations sufficient to generate such funds.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alleged the money originated from unlawful activities, with portions traced to contractors of the Lagos State Government.
The funds were allegedly used as signature bonuses to acquire two Nigerian oil blocks—Deep Offshore PPL 302 and Shallow Water PPL 3007—during the 2024 licensing round.
