In his ruling, Justice Nwite held that after considering the material evidence placed before the court by the applicant, the application was meritorious and deserved to be granted

By Titilope Adako

A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the interim forfeiture of N30.7 million allegedly linked to a fraud involving senior officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, following an application by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

Justice Emeka Nwite granted the order while ruling on an ex parte motion marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2775/2025, filed by the EFCC and moved by its counsel, Emenike Mgbemele.

In his ruling, Justice Nwite held that after considering the material evidence placed before the court by the applicant, the application was meritorious and deserved to be granted.

The judge consequently ordered the EFCC to publish the interim forfeiture order in a national daily.

He directed interested persons to show cause within 14 days why the funds should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.

Justice Nwite then adjourned the matter till January 22 for the EFCC to report its compliance with the publication order.

In a supporting affidavit, the EFCC said the funds are currently lodged in its Recovery Account with United Bank for Africa, UBA.

The account number was given as 9058700029, with the manager’s cheque name listed as M/C Draft Outstanding Account.

The commission said the money should be forfeited to the Federal Government.

According to the affidavit, the funds were discovered during investigations into allegations of fraudulent activities involving some high-profile NNPC officials, as well as other criminal petitions received by the commission.

The EFCC stated that during the investigation and analysis of documents obtained from a bank, the name of one Mr Adamu Yakubu, a Bureau De Change, BDC, operator, featured prominently.

It said that on September 2, 2025, Yakubu was invited by the commission and he voluntarily made a statement.

The EFCC added that Yakubu submitted a ledger showing records of his transactions.

It said the ledger contained details of customers and the dollar amounts sold to them.

Upon analysing the entries in the ledger, the commission said it discovered that over N4 billion was transferred to the accounts of different individuals and companies.

The transfers, according to the EFCC, were carried out on the instruction of one Mr Ibrahim Sani, a staff of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS.

The commission said it was further discovered that the balance of N30.7 million sought to be forfeited was still in Yakubu’s possession.

It added that Yakubu claimed the money was given to him by Ibrahim Sani.

The EFCC said that on September 15, 2025, Ibrahim Sani was invited by the commission and he also volunteered his statement.

According to the affidavit, Ibrahim explained how he had been using Yakubu to send money to different individuals and companies.

He was said to have confirmed that he usually deposited huge sums of money in dollars with Yakubu.

The EFCC stated that Yakubu would then send the naira equivalent to individuals and companies whose account details were provided by Ibrahim.

The commission added that Ibrahim neither ascertained nor verified the source of the funds he deposited with the BDC operator.

It said the funds are reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities.

The EFCC, however, stated that Ibrahim denied ownership of the N30.7 million found in Yakubu’s account at the time he made his statement.

It added that Ibrahim claimed Yakubu was not holding any of his money as of September 15, 2025.

The commission further stated that both Yakubu and Ibrahim denied ownership of the N30.7 million found in the account.

According to the EFCC, Yakubu has since raised four different manager’s cheques in the name of the EFCC Recovery Account in favour of the Federal Government of Nigeria.

The commission maintained that the source of the N30.7 million sought to be forfeited is proceeds of unlawful activities.

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