By Daniel Oluwatobiloba Popoola
Nigerian businesswoman, investor and philanthropist, Aisha Achimugu (OFR) has publicly accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and its leadership of orchestrating sustained campaign of persecution, media trial and violations of her constitutional rights, while calling on the National Assembly, the Judiciary, security agencies, human rights organisations and the international community to intervene in what she described as threat to her life, family, businesses and investments.
In a lengthy statement released recently, Achimugu said the events she described spanned nearly two years and involved the freezing of her personal and corporate bank accounts, multiple court proceedings, the seizure of assets, alleged disregard for court orders, damage to her international business reputation and restrictions affecting her global mobility.
She maintained that the actions against her had placed her life, the lives of her children, the health of her aged parents and the future of her businesses at risk.
Achimugu, an accountant and widow of the late Engr. Sulaiman Achimugu, former Managing Director of the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC), said she had spent decades building indigenous businesses across several sectors while contributing to Nigeria’s economy through investments, employment and philanthropy.
According to her, she chose to remain silent for several months despite widespread publicity surrounding investigations involving her because she believed restraint was in the national interest and wanted to avoid further escalation.
She said her silence had, however, been wrongly interpreted as an admission of guilt.
She recalled that during the development of the Ibaka Deep Sea Port project, she had worked extensively with government agencies and embarked on an international roadshow across more than 30 countries to promote the initiative, describing the experience as evidence of Nigeria’s capacity to support indigenous entrepreneurs.
Achimugu alleged that her ordeal began in 2023 when the Port Harcourt Zonal Office of the EFCC secured an interim forfeiture order from the Federal High Court after allegedly informing the court that she was a partner, associate, director or shareholder of MBA Forex and Capital Investment.
She denied ever owning or holding any interest in MBA Forex, insisting that her company’s only relationship with the firm involved a single business transaction for which payment had been received before the Central Bank of Nigeria publicly declared MBA Forex a Ponzi scheme.
According to her, following an invitation from the EFCC in January 2024, she and her legal representatives appeared before investigators and explained the nature of that transaction.
She further stated that her company refunded N58 million through a bank draft into the EFCC recovery account to resolve every issue connected with the transaction, adding that she understood the matter had been settled.
She also rejected suggestions that she failed to honour invitations by the anti-graft agency.
Providing a chronology of events, Achimugu said she received a WhatsApp invitation on Tuesday, 4 March, 2025 from an unfamiliar telephone number requesting her appearance at the EFCC’s Port Harcourt office the following day.
She explained that she was outside Nigeria at the time and immediately informed the sender of her inability to attend.
According to her, her lawyer also submitted a formal letter to the Port Harcourt office on March 5, notifying the commission that she would be unavailable until the third week of April because she remained abroad.
She added that after receiving additional calls and WhatsApp messages on March 9, her lawyer wrote directly to the EFCC Chairman on March 12, enclosing previous correspondence and confirming that she would be available on April 27 and 28, 2025.
Achimugu argued that the documented exchange of correspondence demonstrated that she neither absconded nor ignored the commission’s invitation but maintained continuous communication with investigators.
She alleged that while the correspondence was ongoing, a coordinated media campaign emerged on March 10, 2025, portraying her as being involved in criminal activities. She described the reports as false, malicious and deliberately designed to damage her reputation locally and internationally.
According to Achimugu, the situation intensified on March 28, 2025, after her company, Oceangate Oil & Gas Limited, completed payments totalling $20 million to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) for the acquisition of Petroleum Prospecting Licences PPL 302-DO and PPL 3007.
