The Court of Appeal in Abuja, on Friday, upheld the January 22, 2025 verdict of Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja for the final forfeiture of N1,582,000,000 (One Billion, Five Hundred and Eighty-two Million) to the Federal Government , through the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC against the National Coordinating Consultant of Nigerian Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL), Steve Olusegun Ogidan.
The EFCC had launched investigation against Ogidan, following his alleged involvement in criminal breach of trust, bribery and money laundering alongside Aliyu Abbati Abdulhameed, then former Managing Director of NIRSAL.
Investigation by the Commission against the duo also led the Commission 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.
The EFCC had on February 5, 2024 secured an order of interim forfeiture on the said amount.
Dissatisfied with the final forfeiture order, Ogidan and Abdulhameed filed separate appeals, challenging the order and seeking a determination by the Appeal Court as to whether the trial court rightly applied Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud Act by causing the money to be forfeited to federal government.
The appeal was heard on April 10, 2025 and judgment was reserved till Friday, June 20, 2025.
In a unanimous dismissal of the appeal by the Justices of the Court of Appeal and in the lead judgment read by Justice Okon Abang. the appellate court held that the appeals lacked merit.
JCA Abang further held that the trial court could not be faulted in granting the interim forfeiture to the Federal Government on the grounds that the appellant in his voluntary request for an out-of-court settlement willingly returned the sum to the federal government, through the EFCC.
