Court To Rule On $13m Aisha Achimugu’s Oceangate Case March 25

Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja has slated March 25 for ruling in an application filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for a final forfeiture order on $13 million linked to Aisha Achimugu’s Oceangate Engineering Oil and Gas Limited.

The court fixed the date after EFCC lawyer, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN) and counsel to the company, Darlington Ozurumba, adopted their processes and presented their arguments for and against the case on Monday.

Nwite had on 22nd August, 2025, granted EfCC’s motion ex parte for an interim order forfeiting the sum of $13 million linked to Oceangate Ltd to the federal government over allegations that the fund was proceeds of unlawful activity.

The court asked the commission to publish the order in a national daily, inviting interested persons to show cause within 14 days why the fund should not be permanently forfeited to the government.

EFCC investigator, Usman Aliyu, deposed that the commission received a credible intelligence report alleging that a company known as Oceangate Engineering Limited, without following due process, used funds reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activity to acquire oil blocks from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).

Aliyu said their investigation revealed that Oceangate, a limited liability company, was registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) on Feb. 25, 2005, under registration number RC 617736.

He said in 2024, Oceangate participated in an oil block licensing bid for deep offshore PPL 302 and shallow water PPL 3007.

He said that upon completion of the technical and commercial bid, NUPRC notified the company of its status as the winning bidder and the condition precedent to be fulfilled before issuance of a licence to the company.

Aliyu said that the total financial obligations of Oceangate Ltd to the government before the issuance of the Petroleum Prospecting License (PPL) to the company were $37 223,144.00.

He said the company, through its Zenith Bank account number 5074678281, transferred millions of dollars to the Federal Government in instalments, including $1.1 million, $1.1 million, $3.8 million, $1.2 million, $3.05 million, $2.1 million, and $500 000.

The investigator said that on March 27 and 28, 2025, Providus Bank Limited, acting for and on behalf of Oceangate Engineering Oil and Gas Limited, transferred the total sum of $7 million to the Federal Government.

He said his team recovered evidence of these transactions from Providus Bank Limited at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) vide a letter dated June 24,02025.

He said the company paid the total of $20 million to the Federal Government between March 20, 2025 and April 3, 2025, for the acquisition of PPL 302 and PPL 3007.

The officer alleged that to fulfil the requirements for payments of the signature bonuses for PPL 302 and PPL 3007, Oceangate conspired with some unlicensed Bureau de Change (BDC) operators and bank officials to retain and transfer funds totalling $13 million, which funds are reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activity.