Court Of Appeal Discharges EFCC’s Freezing Order Against Aisha Achimugu

The Court of Appeal sitting in Port Harcourt has discharged the order freezing the bank accounts of businesswoman and Oceangate Engineering Oil & Gas Limited founder, Aisha Achimugu, along with accounts belonging to companies linked to her.

A three-member panel delivered a unanimous judgment on Wednesday, vacating the ex parte interim freezing order the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt granted on April 10, 2025. The panel comprised Justices Muhammad Ibrahim Sirajo, Ishaq Mohammed Sani and Eleojo Enenche.

The appeal stemmed from a dispute between Achimugu and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over the freezing of 124 bank accounts allegedly linked to her and associated corporate entities.

Justice Turaki Adamu of the Federal High Court had granted the EFCC’s application on April 10, 2025, freezing the accounts and directing affected banks to halt outward transactions. Achimugu filed an application on May 25, 2025, seeking to set aside the order, arguing that its continued enforcement was an abuse of court process.

Unsatisfied, the EFCC approached the Court of Appeal on three grounds, arguing that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to deliver its ruling during its annual vacation, that it granted a relief not specifically sought and denied the commission fair hearing, and that it failed to properly evaluate affidavit evidence on the accounts’ identities and balances.

Achimugu’s lawyers countered that the trial court acted within its powers in ordering the reversal of funds transferred from a frozen account, describing the directive as a consequential order meant to preserve the freezing order’s effect.

Delivering the lead judgment, Justice Sirajo held that delivering a reserved judgment during the annual vacation did not amount to conducting general legal business and did not occasion a miscarriage of justice. The court also dismissed the EFCC’s fair hearing claim, noting both parties had filed further affidavits on the disputed transfer, and held that a freezing order carries with it the power to issue consequential orders necessary to preserve the subject matter of a case.

However, the appellate court upheld the EFCC’s argument on the identity of the account from which the N1.8 billion was moved. It found that the accounts specifically frozen on April 10, 2025 were Drive.FGC.Net’s current account, with a balance of N50,518,009.57, and Felak Concepts Limited’s current account, with a balance of N16,220,608.37 — both of which remained intact. The larger sums, including the N1.8 billion, were held in different accounts, while N7.79 billion was tied to separate internal ledger accounts.

The panel faulted the trial court for treating the accounts as identical without explaining how an account holding about N50 million could also have produced N1.8 billion for transfer, and set aside the order directing the money’s return — while stressing that this did not amount to a finding that the EFCC’s transfer was lawful.

On the broader question of the accounts’ freeze, the appellate court ruled that allowing an ex parte order to remain in force for more than 15 months amounted to an abuse of court process and a violation of the rule of law, noting that such orders are meant to be temporary pending the hearing of the substantive application.

In its final ruling, the court held that the appeal succeeded in part — the trial court’s order directing the reversal of the N1.8 billion was set aside for lack of proper evaluation of evidence, while the ex parte freezing order of April 10, 2025 was discharged and vacated in its entirety.

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