Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd. owner Aisha Achimugu has accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of “oppression, character assassination, intimidation, and the deliberate dissipation of my lawfully acquired personal property.”
Achimugu claimed in a press release on Wednesday that investments had lost money as a result of “misleading information” from the anti-graft agency and that her reputation has been “unfairly questioned.”
The businesswoman said that the government were “persecuting” her, putting her investments, children, and life in danger.
The federal government was awarded complete confiscation of Achimugu-related property on July 16 by a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) high court in Apo.
Jewellery valued at N4,645,170,294.9 billion, eleven exotic cars valued at N4.293 billion, $50,000, and N30 million in cash are among the valuables.
A federal high court in Abuja ordered the final forfeiture of $13 million that was owing to Achimugu and her business, Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Limited, in March.
The decision came after the EFCC filed a lawsuit contesting who owned the money, claiming it was the profits of illicit activities.
Achimugu made headlines in January 2024 when she threw a seven-day 50th birthday celebration on the Caribbean island of Grenada, which was attended by some of the most well-known people in Nigeria and celebrities from the entertainment business.
The EFCC declared Achimugu wanted on money laundering accusations more than a year later. The businesswoman was taken into custody by the EFCC at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja on April 29, 2025.
The business owner claimed that the EFCC’s “malicious nature” was exposed when it declared her wanted even though it knew where she was and had correspondence with her.
After Achimugu was declared sought, she said that thirty EFCC operatives “invaded my home, terrorised my family, embarrassed my environment, and carted away all my jewellery, safes, and personal funds in a cruel and unprofessional manner for reasons best known to them.”
She continued by describing how her mother, who had recently returned from spine surgery abroad, was “emotionally humiliated with no consideration for her age or health” and forced to sit for hours.
According to Achimugu, the $13 million that her company forfeited was meant to be used to pay the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) for oil blocks.
“As part of the same push, a further media campaign attempted to link me to US$7,000,000 allegedly abandoned in a bank, a claim contradicted by the same clear payment tellers already submitted to NUPRC, showing $2,000,000 paid through a South African Bank in South Africa directly to NUPRC’s designated account on PPL 3007 and $5,000,000 on PPL 302 as part of Oceangate’s proof of payment,” the statement reads.
“Yet, the EFCC continued to pursue the claim in court files and on social media. In the ongoing endeavor to undermine my reputation.
“After failing to prove that particular accusation, the EFCC shifted its focus to the remainder of the NUPRC payment that my company submitted.
“Thirteen million dollars ($13,000,000) out of the total twenty million dollars ($20,000,000) combined payment for both PPL 302-DO and PPL 3007 by Oceangate Oil & Gas Limited into NUPRC’s federal government account, which the EFCC also acknowledged in the motion submitted to their claim, which was made subject to an ex-parte forfeiture order obtained by the EFCC at the Federal High Court, without any established case or existing petition.”
“That order has been challenged on appeal, and I am awaiting the outcome. On January 20, 2026, while both that appeal and my earlier suit over the first home invasion were still pending, EFCC operatives invaded my private home for the second time and removed all vehicles on the premises by crane and flatbed, with no regard for ownership, damage, or safety, abandoning them to the elements with no record of offense committed.
“When I sought the court’s intervention for the return of all my vehicles after 6 months, and other seized personal items for nearly 2 years, the EFCC, rather than defending that suit in the Federal High Court, obtained a further ex parte order of forfeiture from the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory on the same suit before them.