The Supreme Court has upheld the forfeiture of ₦1.582 billion linked to Steve Ogidan, the National Coordinating Consultant of the Nigerian Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL), along with several companies and individuals, to the Federal Government.
The judgment, delivered by a five-member panel led by Justice Habeeb Adewale Abiru, affirmed the earlier decision of the Court of Appeal, which upheld the final forfeiture of the funds.
The apex court ruled that Ogidan’s appeal lacked merit and dismissed it in its entirety. It also ordered him to pay the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) ₦5 million as the cost of the legal action.
Justice Abiru observed that Ogidan and other parties involved had already returned the disputed funds through an out-of-court settlement, a development the court said further supported the validity of the trial court’s forfeiture order.
The EFCC had launched an investigation after suspecting that the funds were proceeds of unlawful activities, alleging that Ogidan received bribes from consultants he was responsible for supervising.
Based on its findings, the anti-graft agency approached the Federal High Court in Abuja, where it secured an interim forfeiture order on February 5, 2024. The court later granted a final forfeiture order transferring the funds to the Federal Government.
Ogidan challenged the decision at the Court of Appeal, arguing that the trial court wrongly applied the provisions of the Advance Fee Fraud Act in ordering the forfeiture. However, the appellate court dismissed his appeal and upheld the lower court’s ruling.
Further investigations by the EFCC revealed that between December 2015 and June 2021, eight consulting firms linked to Ogidan received a combined ₦9.59 billion from NIRSAL. The companies identified include Successory Nigeria Limited, Beresh Consulting Limited, Blue Accord Nigeria Limited, Global Knowledge Consulting Limited, Freshvine Agribiz Limited, Richtigen Limited, O Stevens Consulting, Proteus, and Enterprise Aesthetics.
With the Supreme Court’s decision, the forfeiture of the ₦1.582 billion has now been conclusively affirmed, bringing the legal dispute to an end.
