Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court of Abuja has ordered Aisha Achimugu to appear on Tuesday, April 29, 2025 to answer questions related to the ongoing investigation.
The court also directed her to appear by Wednesday, April 30, 2025.
According to a statement by EFCC spokesman Dele Oyewale, the ruling is in response to lawsuits filed by Achimugu against several law enforcement agencies including the Nigerian Police Force, the Independent Corruption and Other Related Crime Commission (ICPC), the Ministry of State Services (DSS), EFCC, EFCC, Nigeria Security and Niger Deversion Corpriage and Niger Corpers (NSC) (NSC) (NSC).
During the lawsuit, EFCC attorney Ekele Iheanacho brought up a counterattack by an investigator Chris Odofin, detailing what led to Achimugu’s invitation. In the affidavit, Odofin stated that Achimugu obtained money through alleged conspiracy, through false pretending, money laundering, corruption and possession of property that is reasonably suspected to be obtained through illegal means.
The EFCC noted that Achimugu initially granted her invitation on February 12, 2024, during which time she provided a written statement and obtained administrative bail through her attorney and bail (Darlington N. Ozurumba). However, she allegedly failed to comply with the bail clause and instead filed a fundamental rights enforcement lawsuit against the committee.
According to the affidavit, Achitugu explained that the inflow of 8.71 billion guilds into his company’s bank account was an “investment fund” to acquire oil blocks, claiming that the funds were transferred to federal government accounts through its company, Ocean Gate Engineering oil and gas-restricted company accounts and supported by Nigeria’s rising petroleum petroleum commandititation support (nuprc).
However, further investigations revealed that Haimen Engineering acquired two oil blocks, shallow water ppl 3007 and deep sea ppl 302-do, with a total cost of US$25.3 million. The committee claims that the payments were made in cash by changing operators and that the final source of funds cannot be traced back to any legal business or partnership. The EFCC also claimed that the acquisition process was damaged by corruption and that no oil blocks began to explore or produce.
The Committee insists that despite the lawsuit filed by FHC/ABJ/CS/451/2024, Achimugu’s current lawsuit attempts to hinder her investigation, dismissing her claim for violations of fundamental rights. The EFCC further revealed that Achimugu operates 136 bank accounts in ten banks in both its personal and company names.
The case is scheduled to continue on Wednesday, April 30, 2025, and Achimugu is expected to report to the EFCC on Tuesday as directed by the court.
