ABUJA: The Federal High Court in Abuja has granted the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) approval to temporarily forfeit the sum of N30.7 million linked to an alleged fraud involving the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
Justice Emeka Nwite granted the order on Monday after hearing an ex-parte motion filed by the anti-graft agency and moved by its counsel, Emenike Mgbemele.
In his ruling, Justice Nwite held that the application was meritorious and ordered that the interim forfeiture be published in a national daily, directing any interested persons to appear before the court within 14 days to show why the funds should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.
The judge adjourned the matter until January 22 for a report of compliance.
The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2775/2025, was instituted by the EFCC through a motion ex-parte dated December 19, 2025, and filed on December 23, 2025, by Ekele Iheanacho, SAN.
The application was subsequently moved on January 2, 2026.
In the motion, the EFCC sought an interim order forfeiting to the Federal Government the sum of N30,700,000.00 lodged in four manager’s cheques of N10 million each and one of N700,000.
The cheques were deposited in the EFCC Recovery Account domiciled with United Bank for Africa, with account number 9058700029, under the name “M/C Draft Outstanding Account.”
Arguing the application, EFCC counsel said the forfeiture proceedings were non-conviction-based and brought pursuant to Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006.
He submitted that the funds were reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities uncovered during investigations into alleged fraudulent transactions linked to officials of the NNPCL.
An investigator with the EFCC, Bilkisu Abubakar, in an affidavit deposed to in support of the application, said she was assigned to investigate fraudulent activities involving some high-profile officials of the NNPCL, following intelligence reports and petitions received by the commission.
According to her, investigations involved obtaining financial records from commercial banks, writing to relevant government agencies, including the Corporate Affairs Commission, as well as inviting and interviewing individuals who featured prominently in the transactions under review.
Abubakar said during the investigation, the name of one Adamu Yakubu, a Bureau De Change operator, featured prominently in financial records obtained from banks.
She stated that Yakubu was invited by the commission on September 2, 2025, where he volunteered a statement and submitted a transaction ledger detailing records of customers and the amounts of foreign currency sold to them.
The investigator said analysis of the ledger revealed that over N4 billion had been transferred to the accounts of various individuals and companies on the instruction of one Ibrahim Sani, a staff member of the Federal Inland Revenue Service.
According to her, the balance of N30.7 million sought to be forfeited remained in Yakubu’s possession and was traced to funds he claimed were given to him by Ibrahim Sani.
She further disclosed that Ibrahim Sani was invited by the EFCC on September 15, 2025, where he admitted using Yakubu to transfer funds to individuals and companies by depositing large sums of foreign currency, which were converted to naira and transferred based on his instructions.
Abubakar said Sani admitted that he neither ascertained nor verified the source of the funds deposited with the Bureau De Change operator, which the commission reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities.
She added that while Ibrahim initially claimed ownership of the N30.7 million, he later denied owning the funds during his statement, insisting that Yakubu was not holding any of his money as at September 15, 2025. Yakubu also denied ownership of the funds.
The investigator said the N30.7 million was subsequently converted into four manager’s cheques raised in favour of the EFCC Recovery Account on behalf of the Federal Government, copies of which were attached to the affidavit as exhibits.
Abubakar told the court that the funds were reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities and urged the court to grant the interim forfeiture order in the interest of justice.
Justice Nwite agreed with the EFCC’s submissions and granted the application.
