The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Wednesday, July 8, 2026 arraigned Mr. Ahmed Adamu Dikko, former Managing Director of Port Harcourt Refining Company Ltd (PHRC), before Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on a 12-count charge bordering on money laundering. Oil& Gas
The charge, marked FHC/ABJ/CR/360/2026 and dated and filed on
June 22 by the Commission’s counsel, Ekele Iheanacho, SAN, listed Dikko and
Masterpiece Projects & Investment Limited as first and second defendants
respectively.
Dikko, who led the Port Harcourt Refining Company for about
four years, pleaded not guilty to a 12-count charge filed against him by the
Commission on Wednesday, July 8, 2026.
The EFCC accused Dikko of laundering N1,322,839,112.7 (One Billion, Three Hundred and Twenty-Two Million, Eight Hundred and Thirty-nine Thousand, One Hundred and Twelve Naira, Seven Kobo) in proceeds allegedly linked to contractors engaged by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery, through cash property purchases, undisclosed bank retentions, third-party fund concealment and unauthorised currency conversion, in violation of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
Count one reads in part: “That you AHMED ADAMU DIKKO… did
directly make cash payment of the dollar equivalent of the sum of
N218,375,000.00 to one Hadeija Bashir for the purchase of Plot 558, Abubakar
Umar Street, Katampe Extension, Abuja without passing through a financial
Institution and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Sections 2(1)(a),
19(d) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022 and
punishable under Section 19(2)(b) of the same Act.” Corporate& Financial
Crime
Count eight reads: “That you AHMED ADAMU DIKKO, former
Managing Director of the Port Harcourt Refining Company Ltd (PHRC) on or about
the 26th of June, 2023 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable
Court disguised the origin of the sum of N328,710,337.50 (Three Hundred and
Twenty Eight Million, Seven Hundred and Ten Thousand, Three Hundred and Thirty
Seven Naira, Fifty Kobo) paid into the GTBank Account Plc No. 0123201507
operated by Masterpiece Projects & Investment Limited by OMSA Integrated Services
Limited from the transactions involving NNPC Limited allocation of Vacuum Gas
Oil for export when you knew that the said sum of N328,710,337.50 constituted
proceeds of unlawful activity and you thereby committed an offence contrary
Section 18(2) (a) and punishable under Section 18(3) of the Money Laundering
(Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.”
Count eleven reads: “That you AHMED ADAMU DIKKO between
October, 2022 and May, 2025 did convert the aggregate sum of $77,080 through
Ibrahim Isa Yaro which amount did not form part of your known lawful earnings
as a former public officer with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd and
you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18(2)(b) of the Money
Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022 and punishable under Section
18(3) of the same Act.”
The defendant pleaded not guilty to the charges when they were
read to him.
Thereafter, counsel to the defendant, Okechukwu Ajunwa, SAN
urged the court to grant the defendant
bail pending the determination of the suit. Iheanacho, however, opposed the
bail application. Courts& Judiciary
In his ruling on the bail application, Justice Ekwo granted
the defendant bail in the sum of N150,000,000 (One Hundred and Fifty Million
Naira) with a surety who must be resident within the jurisdiction of the court
and with a landed property valued at not less than the bail sum. He ordered
that the defendant be remanded in the custody of the EFCC pending when he’s
able to meet the bail conditions.
The matter was therefore adjourned to October 12, 13 and 14,
2026 for trial.
Dikko, an engineer, was reportedly appointed Managing Director
of the Port Harcourt Refining Company in March 2020 with a mandate to drive the
rehabilitation of the moribund refinery.
He led the company for roughly four years before leaving the
position.
The charges against Dikko form part of a wider EFCC
investigation into the alleged diversion of funds released for the turnaround
maintenance and rehabilitation of Nigeria’s state-owned refineries.
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