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High Court Grants Final Forfeiture Of $13m Linked To Achimugu’s Firm To Government
High Court Grants Final Forfeiture Of $13m Linked To Achimugu’s Firm To Government
High court. Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja, on Wednesday, March 25, 2026 granted an order of final forfeiture of the sum of $13 million linked to a business woman, Ms Aisha Achimugu and her Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd, to the federal government.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, dragged Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd before the court regarding the ownership of $13m suspected to be proceeds of fraud and unlawful activities.
Delivering judgment in a suit instituted by Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd to claim the funds, Justice Nwite held that the company failed woefully to establish how it came about the money. He, however, stressed that the EFCC succeeded in convincing the court that the funds are proceeds of fraud and should be forfeited to the government.
The judge dismissed the claims that the
$13 million was gifts received into the Oceangate Engineering Company by Aisha Achimugu adding that the said Aisha never showed up in court to show cause why the funds should not be forfeited to the federal government.
Additionally, Justice Nwite said that no single person who gave the monetary gifts to Achimugu to the tune of $13 million was called to testify.
The judge held that the burden to establish genuine ownership of the money was not established by the applicant to counter the claims of the EFCC that the money was a proceeds of fraud based on its investigation.
According to the judge, Oceangate Engineering Company did not show the business it undertook that fetched it the money and did not also show whether any payment was made to it by of its customer.
Justice Nwite had on 22 August 2025, granted the EFCC an interim order forfeiting the $13 million linked to Oceangate to the government. He also directed the Commission to publish the order in a national daily for interested person(s) to show cause within 14 days why the funds should not be permanently forfeited to the government.
Justifying the forfeiture moves, EFCC investigator, Usman Aliyu, swore to an affidavit stating that the Commission acted on intelligence that showed that 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 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 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 for the Signature bonuses in respect of PPL 302 & PPL 3007 was derived from the huge sum of money transferred by a state government to the contractors for the execution of contracts for the benefit of the state.
The investigator alleged that there were never any contractual or business relationships between Oceangate and the contractors who transferred the aforementioned public funds to the account of the company (Oceangate Engineering).
He said the contractors, who transferred the aforementioned public funds to Oceangate, were neither investors, directors, nor shareholders in Oceangate.
But Oceangate, in its affidavit prayed the court not to make the order of final forfeiture of the funds because all the funds were derived partly from legitimate earnings of the company and partly gifts given to the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the Company, Aisha Achimugu.
But EFCC, in its reply to the affidavit by Oceangate, prayed the court to dismiss the application.
Aliyu, who also swore the affidavit on behalf of the commission, said the Commission found that Iliya Wakil, who swore to Oceangate’s affidavit , was a mere nominal director with no shareholding status of the company.
Besides, the investigator said Wakil was an employee of Felak Concept Group Limited, also owned by Achimugu, and incorporated on May 5, 2000.
He said Wakil admitted, in his extrajudicial statement to his team on 15 April 2025 that he had worked with Felak Concept from 2000 to date.
He said 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 Wakil also stated that he had consistently drawn his monthly salary from his known employer Felak Concept and WishWhich Koncept Limited.

Federal High Court
He argued that there was no record of Wakil drawing a salary from Oceangate.
Besides, the officer said Wakil admitted in his extra-judicial statement that he got all his instructions from Ms Achimugu, the GCEO, and he, in turn, gave the same instructions to Mr Chiroma via telephone conversation.
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.”
“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,” Mr Aliyu wrote.
He alleged that the modus operandi of Oceangate is to acquire “petroleum-related assets with tainted funds.”
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EFCC Arraigns Businessman Over Alleged Employment Scam In Ilorin
EFCC Arraigns Businessman Over Alleged Employment Scam In Ilorin
The Ilorin Zonal Directorate of the EFCC, on Wednesday, May 13, 2026, arraigned a 45-year-old businessman, Kazeem Akinwunmi Bolaji, on an eleven-count charge bordering alleged employment scam and retention of proceeds of unlawful activities before Justice Mahmud Abdulgafar of the Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin.
Eereporter.com
The defendant allegedly collected various sums of money from unsuspecting victims under the guise of securing employment for them with the Nigeria Customs Service and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.

EFCC
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Nigeria’s Digital Switch Over Ready For June 17 Launch – Mohammed Idris
Nigeria’s Digital Switch Over Ready For June 17 Launch – Mohammed Idris
The Honourable Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, has announced that Nigeria’s long-awaited Digital Switch Over (DSO) project is now fully ready for nationwide launch, describing it as a major milestone in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s reform agenda for the broadcast industry.
The Minister made this known during a tour of facilities at NIGCOMSAT located at the Obasanjo Space Centre, on Wednesday, alongside the Director-General of the National Broadcasting Commission, Charles Ebuebu and the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of NIGCOMSAT, Jane Egerton-Idehen.
Eereporter.com
Describing the development as a turning point for Nigeria’s broadcasting sector, the Minister said: “I think this is a new dawn for our country. The promise that President Tinubu made to reform all sectors is now being seen in action in the broadcast industry.” He noted that after many years of delay, Nigeria is finally set to complete the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting, adding that the DSO platform is scheduled for official commissioning on June 17, 2026.
Speaking further on the benefits of the new digital broadcasting ecosystem, the Minister stated: “This is going to bring a lot of advantages to broadcasters, viewers, and advertisers. If you are viewing any particular station, you know who is viewing, what they are watching, and how many people are watching.” According to him, the new system will provide accurate audience measurement and analytics that will help advertisers and broadcasters make informed programming and investment decisions while improving content delivery to Nigerians.
The Minister also highlighted the broader economic and technological impact of the initiative, stressing that the platform would deepen competition in the broadcasting industry, expand access to free television services, and improve viewing quality across Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa. “The monopoly has been broken. Everybody is going to compete.
Content is going to grow, viewership will grow, and Nigeria is now moving from SD to HD broadcasting,” he said. He added that Nigerians will now enjoy cleaner television signals through satellite and mobile applications powered by NIGCOMSAT technology.
The Director-General of the National Broadcasting Commission, Charles Ebuebu, said the upgraded DSO framework was designed to align with emerging technologies and modern viewing habits. He explained that the new system leverages satellite broadcasting and mobile applications to ensure wider accessibility beyond the pilot cities previously covered under the earlier DSO experiment.
“We’re going to have 100 channels by the day of launch and even more because more content producers are talking to us. We want to create one market and one platform for Nigeria,” he stated, while also highlighting the establishment of regional production studios and multilingual customer support centres across the country.
Also speaking during the tour, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NIGCOMSAT, Jane Egerton-Idehen, described the collaboration between NIGCOMSAT and NBC as a strategic partnership that has strengthened service delivery and raised operational standards within Nigeria’s digital broadcasting ecosystem.

Mohammed Idris
According to her, ongoing investments and satellite expansion plans under the current administration will guarantee reliable and continuous service delivery. “The work has only just started. The work has only just begun,” she said.
Among those who accompanied the Honourable Minister on the tour were the Director-General of the Nigerian Television Authority, (NTA), Salihu Abdullahi Dembos; Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria, (VON), Jibrin Baba Ndace; Director-General of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, (FRCN), Mohammed Bulama; and Director-General of the National Orientation Agency, (NOA), Lanre Issa-Onilu, alongside other senior government officials and dignitaries.
Rabiu Ibrahim, mnipr
Special Assistant, Media, to the Honourable Minister of Information and National Orientation.
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Information Minister Commends Compendium Project Showcasing Nigeria’s Vast Economic, Tourism Potentials
Information Minister Commends Compendium Project Showcasing Nigeria’s Vast Economic, Tourism Potentials
The Honourable Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, has reaffirmed the Federal Government’s commitment to strategically project Nigeria’s economic, cultural, and tourism potentials to the global community through a comprehensive national compendium documenting opportunities across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The Minister stated this when he received a delegation from the Nigerian Press Council (NPC), led by its Executive Secretary, Dr. Dili Ezughah, on a courtesy visit to Radio House on Tuesday, to brief him on preparations for the official launch of the national publication scheduled for June 17, 2026, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Eereporter.com
Speaking during the meeting, the Minister commended the Nigerian Press Council and its partners for conceptualising what he described as a timely and strategic national project aimed at showcasing Nigeria beyond negative narratives.
“This project is important because it highlights the enormous economic and tourism potential of our country at a time when some people focus only on negative narratives about Nigeria. What you are doing is helping to showcase the rich opportunities that abound across the 36 states and the FCT,” the Minister said.
Idris noted that the initiative aligns strongly with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, especially the administration’s ongoing efforts to diversify the economy through tourism, culture, investment promotion, and the expansion of the non-oil sector.
“We are not just known for oil; we are known for our rich culture, our tourism assets, and the immense opportunities spread across this country. President Tinubu understands the importance of culture and tourism in national development, which is why this administration has continued to give the sector renewed attention and focus,” he stated.
The Minister further praised the collaboration between the Nigerian Press Council, the Nigerian Tourism Development Authority (NTDA), the Ministry of Arts, Culture, Tourism and Creative Economy, and other stakeholders involved in the project, describing it as a reflection of the government’s commitment to partnership-driven national development.
“The President is opening up the economic base of Nigeria beyond oil, and the increasing international interest in our non-oil sector is a clear indication that the Renewed Hope Agenda is yielding positive results. This kind of documentation is essential because it provides investors and the international community with credible information about Nigeria’s economic strengths and opportunities,” he added.
Idris also assured the delegation of the full support of the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation towards the successful hosting of the launch event, while commending Vice President Kashim Shettima for giving the project national visibility and institutional backing.
“The Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation is fully ready to support this national project because it will help reposition Nigeria positively before the global community. We also appreciate the personal interest of the Vice President in ensuring that this initiative succeeds as a truly national undertaking,” the Minister said.
Earlier, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Press Council, Dr Dili Ezughah, informed the Minister that the project was conceived following consultations aimed at promoting collaboration among government institutions to project Nigeria positively to the world.
“This project was inspired by the need to synergise efforts across government institutions to project Nigeria positively, and we are pleased that the Vice President has endorsed it as a national initiative. We have made substantial progress and are now at the final stage ahead of the official launch,” he said.
Dr. Ezughah explained that the publication would serve as strategic reference material for investors, diplomatic missions, development partners, chambers of commerce, and Nigerians in the diaspora, providing detailed economic and tourism information on every state of the federation.
Also speaking, the Lead Consultant for the project, Mr Tajudeen Toyin-oke, disclosed that the compendium contains comprehensive profiles of all the states and the FCT, including information on investment opportunities, tourism assets, mineral resources, population data, infrastructure, and business incentives.
“The compendium captures the economic and tourism profiles of all the 36 states and the FCT, including investment opportunities, tax incentives, mineral resources, and tourism assets for both local and international investors. It is designed to become a global reference document for anyone seeking credible information about Nigeria,” he said.
In his remarks, the Director-General of the Nigerian Tourism Development Authority (NTDA), Dr. Ola Awakan, described the initiative as a major step towards promoting Nigeria’s rich tourism and cultural heritage to the international community. “Nigeria is a microcosm of stories with enormous tourism potential, and this project will help change the negative narratives about our country while showcasing our strengths to the world. It aligns perfectly with the mandate of the NTDA and the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Tinubu,” he said.

Information Minister
The delegation also informed the Minister that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is expected to write the foreword to the publication, while Vice President Kashim Shettima will write the preface. The launch is expected to attract governors, members of the diplomatic corps, investors, development partners, and key stakeholders from across the country and beyond.
Also, in attendance at the meeting were the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation, Dr. Binyerem C. Ukaire; Director, Public Communications and National Orientation, Barr. Henshaw Ogubike; Director-General of the Nigerian Tourism Development Authority (NTDA), Dr. Ola Awakan; Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Press Council (NPC), Dr. Dili Ezughah; Deputy Director, Public Relations and Protocol Department, Ms. Folasade Fatoke; as well as other senior officials from the Ministry and members of the project team.
Rabiu Ibrahim, mnipr
Special Assistant, Media, to the Honourable Minister of Information and National Orientation.
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