The Federal High Court, Abuja Division, fixed March 25 for
ruling on an application filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
for a final forfeiture order on $13 million linked to Aisha Achimugu’s
Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd.
Justice Emeka Nwite fixed Tuesday as the date, after EFCC
lawyer Rotimi Oyedepo and counsel for the company, Darlington Ozurumba, adopted
their processes and presented their arguments for and against the case on
Monday.
The judge had, on August 22, 2025, granted the anti-graft agency’s motion ex parte for an interim order forfeiting $13 million linked to Oceangate Ltd to the federal government over allegations that the fund was proceeds of unlawful activity.
The judge then directed 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 federal government.
The EFCC investigator, Usman Aliyu, deposed that the
commission received a credible intelligence report alleging that, without
following due process, a company known as Oceangate Engineering Limited used
funds reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activity to acquire oil
blocks from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission.
Mr Aliyu said their investigation revealed that Oceangate, a
limited liability company, was registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission
on February 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 after the technical and commercial bid, NUPRC
notified the company of its status as the winning bidder and listed the
conditions to be met before the licence could be issued.
Mr Aliyu said that the total financial obligations of
Oceangate Ltd to the government before the issuance of the Petroleum
Prospecting License to the company were $37,223,144. 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 at the Central Bank of Nigeria, via a letter dated June 24,02025. He
said the company paid a 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 operators and bank officials to retain
and transfer funds totalling $13 million, which funds are reasonably suspected
to be proceeds of unlawful activity.
He alleged that the company equally procured Suleiman Chiroma,
Tirmizi Usman and Dantani Hassan to receive funds reasonably suspected to be
proceeds of unlawful activities from different contractors with the Lagos
government.
He said that, to receive and retain funds reasonably suspected
to be proceeds of unlawful activity from different contractors with Lagos,
Dantani Abubakar used his company, Ashrab Energy and Oil Services Limited, with
account number 1229255048, domiciled with Zenith Bank Plc.
He said the combined sum of N2, 455, 651, 560 received in both
Zenith and Access Bank accounts of Ashrab Energy was converted to U.S. dollars
and subsequently transferred to Oceangate’s Zenith Bank account for onward
payment for the signature bonus of the two oil blocks, PPL 302 and PPL 3007,
allocated to the company, among other averments.
Mr Aliyu insisted that the $13 million used by Oceangate to
pay for the signature bonuses in respect of PPL302 and PPL3007 were not
proceeds of any lawful and legitimate business of Oceangate but rather
represent funds reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activity.
According to him, part of the funds used by Oceangate
Engineering Oil and Gas Limited to pay the Signature bonuses in respect of PPL
302 & PPL 3007 was derived from the huge sum transferred by the Lagos
government to contractors for the execution of contracts in the state’s
benefit.
The investigator alleged that there was never any contractual
or business relationship between Oceangate and the contractors who transferred
the aforementioned public funds to the company’s (Oceangate Engineering)
account. He said the contractors, who transferred the aforementioned public
funds to Oceangate, were neither investors, directors, nor shareholders in
Oceangate.
Mr Aliyu, who said he made the deposition in good faith, said
it would be in the interest of justice and public policy to grant the
application. But Oceangate, in its affidavit to show cause deposed to by one of
the company’s directors, Iliya Wakil, said it came to his knowledge that the
court made an order of interim forfeiture of the company’s $13 million used to
pay for the signature bonuses of Deep Offshore PPL 302 and Shallow Water PPL
3007 between March 20, 2025 and April 3, 2025.
Mr Wakil prayed the court not to make the order of final
forfeiture of the funds, as the funds were derived partly from the company’s
legitimate earnings and partly from gifts given to the company’s group chief
executive officer, Ms Achimugu.
He disagreed that the company did not. conspire with any
unregistered BDC operator and bank officials to retain and transfer the sum or
any sum of money whatsoever which had anything to do with unlawful activity.
He argued that Mr Chiroma, referred to by the EFCC, in its
application for interim forfeiture, is a licensed BDC agent engaged lawfully by
the company fo help it source the dollars needed by the company to settle the
signature bonuses of PPL 302 and PPL 3007 oil blocks, respectively, as the same
was required to be paid in dollars by the Nigerian government.
He stated that Mr Chiroma acted independently and without any
control by Oceangate Limited. The director said the company did not know Mr
Hassan or the company known as Ashrab Energy and Oil Services Limited.
Besides, he said Oceangate did not know Mr Usman and Tripple A
& Tee Oil Nigeria Limited, adding that the company had never met, dealt
with or transacted with any of the persons statéd in paragraphs 15 and 16 of
the EFCC’s affidavit in any manner or for any reason whatsoever.
He said Oceangate relied fully on the avowed expertise of Mr
Chiroma, a licensed BDC agent, who believed he followed due process in sourcing
all the funds remitted to the company for the purpose of settling the signature
bonuses as stated.
He said the entire naira swapped for dollars came from
legitimate sources, and he attached the company’s audited accounts as exhibits.
Oceangate, in a motion on notice filed with the affidavit to
show cause, sought an order setting aside the order of interim forfeiture of
$13 million, which it claimed was its property.
The company argued that the order was made by the court
without the requisite jurisdiction and in violation of the principle of fair
hearing. But the EFCC, in its reply to Oceangate’s affidavit to show cause,
urged the court to dismiss the application.
Mr Aliyu, who also deposed to the affidavit on behalf of the
commission, said they found that Mr Wakil, who deposed to Oceangate’s affidavit
to show cause, was a mere nominal director with no shareholding status in the
company.
Additionally, the investigator stated that Mr Wakil was an
employee of Felak Concept Group Limited, which was also owned by Ms Achimugu
and incorporated on May 5, 2000. He said Mr Wakil admitted, in his
extrajudicial statement to his team on April 15, 2025, that he had worked with
Felak Concept from 2000 to date.
He said Mr 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”.
He said Mr 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 Mr Wakil drawing a salary from
Oceangate.
Besides, the officer said Mr Wakil admitted in his
extrajudicial statement that he received all his instructions from Ms Achimugu,
the GCEO, and that Ms Achimugu, in turn, gave the same instructions to Mr
Chiroma via telephone.
Mr Aliyu described Oceangate 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”.
He said, “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 Oceangate’s modus operandi is to acquire
“petroleum-related assets with tainted funds”.
The officer said the $13 million in proceeds that the court
had forfeited to the federal government in the interim were not the proceeds of
any lawful, legitimate, provable, known, or justifiable income of the company.
Mr Aliyu also averred that Oceangate equally procured an
auditor, Godwin Ukah, to prepare an audit report, which was attached to its
affidavit to show cause as an exhibit.
He said Mr Ukah was invited to the EFCC’s office, after which
he volunteered his extrajudicial statement and admitted that he did not see the
various account statements of Oceangate when he prepared the audit report.
Besides, he said, Mr Ukah admitted that Oceangate had not
actively earned from oil and gas exploration. He said Mr Ukah, who prepared the
audit report attached as an exhibit, relied solely on a memorandum of
understanding and not the financial books of Oceangate.
Mr Aliyu said his team also invited Ms Achimugu, the GCEO of
Oceangate, who volunteered to provide an extrajudicial statement.
According to him, Ms Achimugu admitted in her extrajudicial
statement that she had the most significant control of Oceangate Oil and Gas
Limited. He said the businesswoman also admitted that Oceangate Oil & Gas
Limited does not currently enter into contracts, nor has it carried out any
contracts in the private or public sector.
The investigator told the court that it would be in the
interest of justice to forfeit the $13 million to the federal government, as it
had been reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activity.
Mr Nwite had, on September 15, 2025, ordered the final
forfeiture of $7 million lodged at the Providus Bank branch in Ikoyi, Lagos
State, which was recovered by the EFCC after no one came forward to claim the
funds.
A company, Felak Concept Group Limited, later issued a statement to dismiss reports linking its GCEO, Ms Achimugu, and its subsidiary, Oceangate Engineering Oil and Gas Ltd, to the controversial $7 million cash transaction allegedly tied to Providus Bank.
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