Businesswoman and Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd founder, Aisha Achimugu, has accused Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of orchestrating a sustained campaign to tarnish her image and cripple her investments.
Gatekeepers News reports that in a statement released on Wednesday, she alleged that the anti-graft agency’s actions had exposed her, her family and her businesses to serious risks, describing its conduct as “oppression, character assassination, intimidation and the deliberate dissipation of my lawfully acquired personal property.”
Achimugu said her public image had been “unfairly questioned”, while businesses she had built over the years had suffered setbacks because of what she described as “misleading information” circulated by the commission. She further alleged that she and her children had become targets of “persecution” by the state.
Her remarks come days after the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Apo ordered the final forfeiture of assets linked to her to the Federal Government. The forfeited assets include jewellery valued at about ₦4.65 billion, 11 luxury vehicles worth over ₦4.29 billion, as well as $50,000 and ₦30 million in cash. Earlier this year, a Federal High Court in Abuja also ordered the forfeiture of $13 million connected to Achimugu and Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Ltd after the EFCC argued that the money was derived from unlawful activities.
Achimugu maintained that the commission acted in bad faith by declaring her wanted despite allegedly knowing her whereabouts and communicating with her through legal representatives. She claimed that shortly after the declaration, about 30 EFCC operatives stormed her residence, where they “invaded my home, terrorized my family, embarrassed my environment and carted away all my jewelleries, safes, and personal funds in a cruel and unprofessional manner for reasons best known to them”. She also alleged that her elderly mother, who had recently undergone spinal surgery abroad, was forced to remain seated for hours and “emotionally humiliated with no consideration for her age or health”.
The businesswoman insisted that the $13 million forfeited by the court formed part of funds earmarked for payments to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) for oil block transactions. She stated: “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.”
She further alleged: “Yet the EFCC nonetheless continued to press the allegation in court filings and in the social media space. In the continuous campaign to smear my character.” According to her, after that allegation failed to stand, the commission shifted its focus to the remaining funds paid by her company to the NUPRC. She added: “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 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.”
Achimugu disclosed that the forfeiture order is currently being challenged on appeal. She also alleged that on January 20, 2026, EFCC operatives carried out another raid on her residence, removing vehicles with cranes and flatbed trucks. She said: “When I sought the court’s intervention for the return of all my vehicles, after 6 months and other seized personal items for almost 2 years, the EFCC, rather than defend that suit at the Federal High Court, instead again obtained a further ex-parte order of forfeiture from the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory on the same suit before them.”
She also claimed the EFCC’s actions had affected her international engagements and financial prospects, alleging that “The EFCC did not stop at nothing, they also directed that my visa be revoked by the American Embassy in Abuja Nigeria, for merely declaring me wanted which was unjustified.” She added: “It is a known information that visa revocations are initiated by the Department of State in Washington and not by reason of alleged unconcluded investigation.”
According to Achimugu, she later discovered that the issue also affected her Grenadian passport while attempting to secure a visa to attend a Harvard executive programme. She said: “I discovered the most devastating information when I could not proceed with an application for a visa on my Grenada passport which was to enable me to attend my already booked and scheduled Harvard executive program… I was told I could not, until I am clear with my birth country.”
Maintaining her innocence, the businesswoman said: “I have never been known to be a troublemaker. I am not a criminal and I have never been convicted of any offence. I have never been confronted with any crime that I did not own up to.”
