The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered an interim forfeiture of N30.7 million recovered from a bureau de change (BDC) operator with links to an official of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).
Judge Emeka Nwite gave the order in a ruling on an ex parte motion brought by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
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EFCC said it discovered the money during a review of a bureau de change operator’s financial records, obtained primarily for the purposes of investigating the activities of some “high profile” officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Ltd.
But when confronted with the discovery, the BDC operator, Adamu Yakubu, claimed the money belonged to an official of the FIRS, Ibrahim Sani, on whose instruction Mr Yakubu had transferred N4 billion to various accounts of individuals and companies.
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EFCC said Mr Sani’s name featured prominently on Mr Yakubu’s ledger.
The agency added that Mr Sani, whose position at FIRS was not disclosed in court filings, confirmed depositing huge sums of money from time to time in Mr Yakubu’s account for distribution to various beneficiaries but denied ownership of the N30.7 million.
According to EFCC, Mr Sani did not disclose the sources of the money he sent to Mr Yakubu. Mr Sani’s statement that he wrote when he honoured an invitation for EFCC interrogation in September 2025 was attached to the anti-corruption agency’s forfeiture application.
Mr Yakubu too denied ownership of the money, prompting the EFCC to label it as likely proceeds of crime.
The commission then launched a forfeiture proceeding to transfer the ownership of the money to the federal government.
On 2 January, EFCC’s lawyer, Emenike Mgbemele, moved an ex parte application for the forfeiture of the money he said was “reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities.”
The judge ruled shortly after during the proceedings that the application was meritorious.
He ordered that the interim forfeiture order be published in a national daily, directing interested persons to show cause within 14 days why the funds should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.
The judge adjourned the matter until 22 January for a report of compliance.
The suit
The ex parte motion was filed on 23 December 2025 by EFCC’s lawyer, Ekele Iheanacho, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), and was moved on 2 January by Mr Mgbemele.
The suit sought an order forfeiting to the federal government the sum of N30.7 million raised through managers’ cheques listed in an attached schedule and reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities.
Advancing three grounds, the lawyer argued that the court was empowered under Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act 2006 to grant the reliefs sought.
Mr Mgbemele said the case was a non-conviction-based asset forfeiture proceeding.
The commission also prayed that funds lodged in four instalments of N10 million each and N700,000 in its Recovery Account with United Bank for Africa, account number 9058700029, under the managers’ cheque name “M/C Draft Outstanding Account,” be forfeited to the federal government.
What investigation revealed
An EFCC investigator, Bilkisu Abubakar, in an affidavit filed in support of the ex parte motion, said she was assigned to investigate fraudulent activities involving some high-profile officials of the NNPC, alongside other criminal petitions received by the commission.
She said that upon receiving intelligence reports, her team carried out several investigative activities, including making inquiries and obtaining financial records from commercial banks mentioned in the intelligence.
Ms Abubakar said the investigation also involved sending correspondences to agencies such as the Corporate Affairs Commission, and inviting and interviewing individuals connected to the probe.
She added that the investigation also entailed “analysis of documents received from the bank”. The name of “Adamu Yakubu, a Bureau De Change operator, featured prominently,” she stated.
She said that on 2 September 2025, Mr Yakubu was invited and voluntarily made a statement.
The investigator added, “That Mr Yakubu submitted a ledger to the commission evidencing records of his transactions, wherein the details of customers and the amount of dollars sold by them are recorded.
“Upon analysing the entries in the ledger submitted by Mr Yakubu, it was revealed that over N4,000,000,000 was transferred to the accounts of different individuals and companies on the instruction of one Mr Ibrahim Sani, a staff of the Federal Inland Revenue Service.”
She detailed the findings of the probe.
According to her, the investigation discovered that the balance of N30.7 million sought to be forfeited remained in Mr Yakubu’s possession from funds he claimed were given to him by Mr Sani.
“That on the 15th day of September 2025, Mr Ibrahim Sani, a staff (member) of FIRS, whose name appeared in the ledger and who Mr Yakubu claimed owned the N30,700,000, was invited and he volunteered his statement,” the affidavit stated.
Ms Abubakar said Mr Sani explained how he had been using Mr Yakubu to transfer money to various individuals and companies.
“That Mr Ibrahim equally confirmed how he usually deposits huge amounts of money in dollars with Mr Yakubu, who in turn sends the naira equivalent to individuals and companies’ accounts provided by him.
“That Mr Ibrahim neither ascertained nor verified the source of these monies which he deposited with Mr Yakubu for onward transfer, which are reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities.”
She said Mr Sani, however, denied ownership of the N30.7 million found in Mr Yakubu’s account at the time of his statement.
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According to the affidavit, Mr Sani stated that Mr Yakubu was not holding any of his money as of 15 September 2025.
The EFCC investigator said both Mr Yakubu and Mr Sani denied ownership of the N30.7 million found in the former’s account.
She wrote, “That Mr Yakubu raised four different managers’ cheques in the name of the EFCC Recovery Account in favour of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
“Copies of the managers’ cheques are attached and marked as Exhibits EFCC 4A, 4B, 4C and 4D respectively.
“That I know as a fact and verily believe that the source of the funds sought to be forfeited in the account of Mr Yakubu are proceeds of unlawful activities.”
Ms Abubakar said the court had the discretion to grant the application in the interest of justice.
She added that the order sought was interim in nature and that no party would be prejudiced by its grant, urging the court to grant the application in the interest of justice.
The NNPC was renamed the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited on 19 July 2022 to reflect its transition into a commercially focused energy company under the administration of late President Muhammadu Buhari, in line with the Petroleum Industry Act 2021.
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