Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The Supreme Court of Nigeria has affirmed the final forfeiture of N1.582 billion linked to a former National Coordinating Consultant of the Nigerian Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL), Steve Ogidan, bringing to a definitive end a protracted legal battle that spanned more than two years and exposed a web of consultancy payments running into billions of naira.
The decision, delivered on Friday, June 19, 2026, by a five-member panel of the apex court led by Justice Habeeb Adewale Abiru, upheld the unanimous judgment of the Court of Appeal which had earlier sustained the forfeiture order issued by the Federal High Court in Abuja. Justice Abiru held that Ogidan's appeal was unmeritorious and dismissed it, ordering him to pay the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) the sum of N5 million as cost of action.
The Supreme Court's ruling brings to a close a legal saga that began when the EFCC, through its counsel Ndeh Godspower Isotu, approached the Federal High Court in Abuja seeking the forfeiture of funds believed to be proceeds of unlawful activities. On February 5, 2024, Justice I.E. Ekwo granted an interim forfeiture order, which was later made final after the commission established reasonable grounds to suspect that Ogidan acquired the sum through illegitimate activities, specifically bribery from consultants he was engaged to monitor and supervise.
Dissatisfied with the final forfeiture order, Ogidan filed an appeal challenging the ruling and seeking a determination as to whether the trial court rightly applied Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act in ordering the forfeiture of the funds to the Federal Government. The appeal was heard on April 10, 2025, and was dismissed on June 20, 2025, by a unanimous judgment of the Court of Appeal presided over by Justice Okon Abang.
In a significant development, Justice Abiru noted during the Supreme Court proceedings that Ogidan and his cohorts had voluntarily returned the disputed funds as part of an out-of-court settlement, a move the court said further validated the trial court's decision to approve the final forfeiture. The EFCC, in a statement issued on Monday, June 29, 2026, by its Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, confirmed that the Supreme Court found Ogidan's appeal to be without merit and dismissed it in its entirety.
The EFCC's wider investigation into transactions involving Ogidan revealed that between December 2015 and June 2021, eight consulting firms linked to him received a cumulative N9.599 billion from NIRSAL. The companies are Successory Nigeria Limited, Beresh Consulting Limited, Blue Accord Nigeria Limited, Global Knowledge Consulting Limited, Freshvine Agribiz Limited, Richtigen Limited, O Stevens Consulting, and Proteus and Enterprise Aesthetics.
NIRSAL, established by the Central Bank of Nigeria to encourage lending to the agricultural sector by reducing the risks faced by financial institutions, has in recent years come under intense scrutiny over consultancy payments and contract awards made between 2015 and 2021. The forfeiture case involving Ogidan is one of the high-profile cases arising from the EFCC's investigation into those transactions.
The anti-graft agency has maintained that some of the payments made to consultants and companies linked to them were proceeds of corrupt practices, an allegation that has now been upheld by the country's highest court in relation to the N1.582 billion forfeiture. The Supreme Court's decision serves as a landmark ruling in the ongoing fight against corruption in Nigeria's public sector and sends a clear signal that illicit proceeds from public contracts will be recovered, regardless of attempts to conceal them through complex corporate structures.
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