Aisha Achimugu, alleged money owner
By agency report
A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has ordered the final forfeiture of seven million dollars cash (about ₦11.2 billion naira, which was deposited in Providus Bank under suspicious circumstances, to the Federal Government.
Sources said that operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) investigating the case had discovered the whooping cash deposit on March 26 and 27, 2025, when they were alerted by an insider whistleblower.
The money was deposited in raw currency directly into the bank’s vaults at its Victoria Island headquarters rather than being credited to any customer’s account.
The transaction was later flagged by the EFCC as very unusual after the whistleblower alerted the agency, prompting officials to storm the bank’s headquarters unannounced.
Delivering judgment on the matter, Justice Emeka Nwite ordered the final forfeiture of the money to the Federal Government of Nigeria following the failure of any claimant to come forward and claim it.
The EFCC had in an earlier application argued that the funds were suspected proceeds of unlawful activities.
Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, counsel for the EFCC, who moved the application had told the court that the commission had fulfilled all procedural requirements after securing an interim forfeiture order on Aug. 27.
He noted that the order was duly published, inviting any interested parties to appear and show cause why the funds should not be permanently forfeited.
“My lord, since Aug. 27, when your Lordship granted the order, to date, we have not received any opposition to our application.
“Hence, we filed a motion for final forfeiture,” he said.
Although a lawyer, Mr. Gbenga Akande, had earlier appeared in court claiming to represent an interested party, he refused to disclose his client’s identity and failed to file any supporting documents.
At the following hearing, Akande was absent, and another lawyer, Darlington Ozurumba, appeared but raised no objection to the EFCC’s application.
Some of the bank’s staff members were subsequently taken in for questioning.
During interrogation, EFCC operatives were told that the funds belonged to one of the bank’s high-profile clients, a businesswoman and socialite, Aisha Achimugu, the Chief Executive Officer of Ocean Gate Petroleum.
It was gathered that Achimugu was later invited by the EFCC but she denied ownership of the money, insisting she only took a loan of that equivalent from the bank, which she had yet to repay.
“The money was deposited under suspicious circumstances in raw cash. Instead of paying it into their customer’s account, the money was deposited into the vaults of Providus Bank, which was unusual and suspicious.
“An anonymous whistleblower who works at the bank and serves as a spy for the EFCC alerted the anti-corruption agency of the unusual transactions that just occurred at the bank.
“Acting on that intelligence, the staff of the EFCC swooped on the Providus headquarters, and the EFCC officials demanded for the money, taking away some bank staff for proper interrogation.
“On further interrogation, the arrested bank staff revealed that the seven million dollars belongs to one of their biggest customers, Abuja big girl, Aisha Achimugu, who is also the CEO of Ocean Gate Petroleum.”
“She denied depositing that kind of money, claiming she borrowed seven million dollars as loan from Providus Bank and had yet to pay it back,” a source familiar with the case said.
Following the development, the EFCC promptly put up an advert in national newspapers, inviting whoever owned the contentious money to come forward and explain its source.
However, no claimant came forward to claim the money.
Providus Bank also came under scrutiny for allegedly failing to file a Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) with the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), despite the nature of the transaction raising multiple red flags.
The EFCC eventually recovered the cash and transferred it to the Central Bank of Nigeria for safekeeping.
Achimugu could not be reached for comments on the matter as of the time of filing this report as all efforts to get her proved abortive.
