The Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, on Friday, June 20, 2025, upheld the January 22, 2025 ruling of the Federal High Court, Abuja Division, presided over by Justice Inyang Ekwo, which approved the final forfeiture of N1,582,000,000 to the federal government against Steve Olusegun Ogidan, a former National Coordinating Consultant of the Nigerian Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL).
Justice Okon Abang delivered the judgment in a unanimous decision by a three-man panel in favor of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Nairametrics had exclusively reported that Ogidan returned N1.5 billion to the EFCC in the anti-graft agency’s alleged fraud case involving a former Managing Director of NIRSAL, Aliyu Abatti Abdulhameed, and himself.
Legal Dispute
Ogidan was investigated for criminal breach of trust, bribery, and money laundering alongside Aliyu Abatti Abdulhameed, then Managing Director of NIRSAL.
According to the EFCC, “Investigation by the Commission against the duo led to a reasonable suspicion that Ogidan acquired the sum through illegitimate activities, specifically bribery from consultants he was supposed to monitor and supervise, which resulted in leaving the job totally undone.”
On February 5, 2024, the Commission secured an order for the interim forfeiture of the said amount.
Dissatisfied with the final forfeiture order, Ogidan and Abdulhameed filed separate appeals challenging the forfeiture.
Their legal team urged the Appeal Court to determine whether the trial court rightly applied Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act by ordering the money to be forfeited to the federal government.
The appeal was argued on April 10, 2025, and judgment was reserved until Friday, June 20, 2025.
Appeal Court Judgment
- In a unanimous dismissal of the appeal on Friday, Justice Okon Abang “held that the appeals lacked merit and that the trial court could not be faulted in granting the interim forfeiture to the federal government.”
- The Appeal Court also observed that Ogidan, in his voluntary request for an out-of-court settlement, willingly returned the said sum to the federal government through the EFCC.
What You Should Know
- The Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL Plc.) is a non-bank financial institution wholly owned by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
- It was established to redefine, assess, measure, reprice, and share agribusiness-related credit risks in Nigeria.
- Former President Muhammadu Buhari, in 2022, removed Aliyu Abdulhameed from office, citing allegations of corruption.
- The ex-NIRSAL boss subsequently faced separate cases of alleged forgery and money laundering at the Federal High Court, instituted by the Nigeria Police and the EFCC.
