Court orders EFCC to release Aisha Achimugu within 24 hours 

ABUJA- The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to within 24 hours, release from its detention facility, a business woman and socialite, Aisha Achimugu.

In a ruling he delivered on Wednesday, Justice Inyang Ekwo held that she should be freed on the same terms of an administrative bail the anti-graft agency earlier granted to her.

The order came barely 24 hours after Achimugu was arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport by EFCC operatives.

Justice Ekwo ordered the parties, including the EFCC, to return to the court on Friday to give a report on compliance to the order.

The ruling came on a day the EFCC, in compliance with an order the trial judge made last Monday, produced the embattled lady who was previously declared wanted, before the court.

The anti-graft agency had in a counter-affidavit that was deposed to by one of its investigators, Mr. Chris Odofin, outlined the circumstances that led to its actions against the detainee.

It told the court that Achimugu was under investigation for alleged conspiracy, obtaining money by false pretence, money laundering, corruption and possession of property reasonably suspected to have been acquired through unlawful means.

The affidavit was in respect of a suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/626/2025, which Achimugu filed to stop several law enforcement agencies, including the Nigeria Police Force, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, the Department of State Services, DSS, the EFCC, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps ,NSCDC, and the Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, from arresting her.

According to the EFCC, Achimugu had initially honoured its invitation on February 12, 2024, during which she made a written statement and was subsequently granted administrative bail through her lawyer and surety, Darlington N. Ozurumba.

It however alleged that she failed to report back as agreed, choosing instead to file a fundamental rights enforcement suit against the Commission.

The affidavit further revealed that Achimugu, in her statement, explained the inflow of N8.71billion into her corporate bank accounts as an ” investment fund” for the acquisition of an oil block.

EFCC alleged that she claimed the funds were transferred to the Federal Government’s account through her company, Oceangate Engineering Oil and Gas Limited, referencing documentation from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NUPRC.

More so, it told the court that the applicant operated a total of 136 bank accounts across ten different banks, both in her personal and corporate names.

According to the EFCC: “Further investigation in the affidavit however, indicated that Achimugu’s company actually acquired two oil blocks, Shallow Water PPL 3007 and Deep Offshore PPL 302-DO at the cost of $25.3 million.

Investigations showed that the payments were allegedly made in cash via bureau de change operators and that the ultimate sources of the funds could not be traced to any legitimate business income or partnerships.”

The Commission alleged that the acquisition process was fraught with corruption, adding that “despite the acquisition, neither of the two oil blocks had commenced exploration or production as of the time of investigation.”

The EFCC insisted that the legal action Achimugu initiated against it and other security agencies was “a calculated attempt to frustrate the ongoing investigation, despite a previous court decision in suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/451/2024 dismissing her claim of fundamental rights violations.”