The Supreme Court has affirmed the final forfeiture of N1.58 billion linked to Steve Ogidan, a former National Coordinating Consultant of NIRSAL, to the Federal Government.
A five-member panel led by Justice Habeeb Adewale Abiru on Monday upheld the June 20, 2025 judgment of the Court of Appeal, which had dismissed Ogidan’s appeal and validated the forfeiture order.
The apex court described Ogidan’s suit as “unmeritorious” and dismissed it, awarding N5 million in costs against him in favour of the EFCC.
Justice Abiru said that Ogidan and others had earlier returned the funds voluntarily as part of an out-of-court settlement, a move the court said further justified the trial court’s forfeiture order.
The EFCC said its investigation found reasonable suspicion that Ogidan obtained the money through bribery from consultants he was meant to supervise for NIRSAL.
EFCC counsel, Ndeh Godspower Isotu, secured an interim forfeiture order from Justice I.E. Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja on February 5, 2024. A final forfeiture order followed afterwards.
Dissatisfied with the final forfeiture order, Ogidan filed an appeal 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 the federal government. The appeal was heard on April 10, 2025 and lost.
The Commission’s investigations showed that cumulatively, between December 2015 and June 2021, eight of Steve Ogidan Consulting Companies; 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 were paid the total sum of ₦9,599,286,680.21 by NIRSAL.