The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the interim forfeiture of N30.7 million to the Federal Government in connection with an ongoing investigation into alleged fraudulent activities involving officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
Justice Emeka Nwite issued the order on Monday after granting an ex-parte application filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The judge held that the anti-graft agency had presented sufficient grounds to justify the temporary forfeiture of the funds pending the conclusion of investigations.
Justice Nwite directed that the forfeiture order be published in a national newspaper, giving any interested party 14 days to show cause why the money should not be permanently forfeited. The matter was adjourned to January 22 for the EFCC to file a compliance report on the publication.
According to the EFCC, the funds were uncovered during investigations into allegations of fraud involving some high-ranking officials of the NNPCL, alongside other criminal petitions received by the commission.
The agency told the court that during the investigation, the name of a Bureau De Change (BDC) operator, Mr Adamu Yakubu, featured prominently. Yakubu was invited for questioning on September 2, 2025, during which he provided a statement and submitted a transaction ledger detailing records of dollar sales and customer transactions.
Analysis of the ledger, the EFCC said, revealed that over N4 billion had been transferred to the accounts of various individuals and companies on the instruction of one Mr Ibrahim Sani, identified as a staff member of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).
The commission further stated that the N30.7 million sought to be forfeited was part of the funds allegedly given to Yakubu by Sani and remained in Yakubu’s possession. Sani was subsequently invited on September 15, 2025, and he reportedly admitted to using Yakubu to transfer funds to different individuals and companies, after depositing large sums of foreign currency with the BDC operator for naira conversion.
However, the EFCC noted that Sani neither verified nor ascertained the source of the funds, which investigators reasonably suspect to be proceeds of unlawful activities. Despite this, Sani denied ownership of the N30.7 million found in Yakubu’s account, while Yakubu also disclaimed ownership of the funds.
Relying on provisions of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006, the EFCC argued that the money constitutes proceeds of unlawful activities and should be forfeited.
Under Nigeria’s asset recovery framework, interim forfeiture orders are intended to preserve suspected proceeds of crime while allowing affected parties the opportunity to challenge the forfeiture before a final decision is made by the court.
