The Federal High Court in Abuja, has ordered socialite Aisha Achimugu Engineering Oil and Gas Limited to forfeit $13 million to the federal government, the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN reports.
According to the Agency report, on Wednesday, Justice Emeka Nwite gave the ruling following the motion of motion for final forfeiture of the funds by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
The judge said the ruling followed the failure of the oil and gas firm and Achimugu to prove to the court that the money was earned legitimately.
Instructively, Justice Nwite held that the argument by Oceangate’s lawyer, Darlington Ozurumba, that the $13 million dollars came from gifts to Achimugu and earnings from gas and oil-related contact could not be substantiated by material facts before the court.
The judge also dismissed Ozurumba’s argumemt that the court lacked jurisdiction to have granted the Aug. 22, 2025 interim forfeiture while the court sat as vacation court.
The judge agreed with the submission of the EFCC’s lawyer, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, that relevant laws, including Order 46(5) of the FHC, Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud Act, 2006, and others, were complied with in granting the order.
Justice Nwite also described the argument that the anti-graft agency was a meddlesome interloper since no person or corporate body had approached it to complain that their money was missing as “baseless.”
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