The Supreme Court has upheld the final forfeiture of ₦1.582 billion linked to a former National Coordinating Consultant of the Nigerian Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL), Steve Ogidan, to the Federal Government.
The apex court, in a judgment delivered on June 19, 2026, affirmed the earlier decision of the Court of Appeal, which upheld the forfeiture of the funds following investigations by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The five-member panel of the Supreme Court, led by Justice Habeeb Adewale Abiru, held that the decisions of both the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal were consistent with the law.
The court dismissed Ogidan’s appeal for lacking merit and ordered him to pay ₦5 million to the EFCC as costs.
Justice Abiru also observed that Ogidan and other parties linked to the matter had voluntarily returned the disputed funds as part of an out-of-court settlement, a development the court said further reinforced the validity of the trial court’s order directing the final forfeiture of the money.
According to the EFCC, investigations uncovered reasonable grounds to suspect that the funds were proceeds of unlawful activities, alleging that Ogidan received bribes from consultants he was responsible for supervising and monitoring under the NIRSAL programme.
Acting through its counsel, Ndeh Godspower Isotu, the anti-graft agency approached the Federal High Court in Abuja, where Justice Inyang Ekwo granted an interim forfeiture order on February 5, 2024. The court subsequently issued a final forfeiture order after considering the Commission’s application.
Dissatisfied with the decision, Ogidan appealed, arguing that the trial court wrongly relied on Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act in ordering the forfeiture of the funds to the Federal Government.
However, the Court of Appeal, in a unanimous judgment delivered on June 20, 2025, dismissed the appeal and affirmed the forfeiture order, a decision that has now been upheld by the Supreme Court.
The EFCC further disclosed that its investigations revealed that between December 2015 and June 2021, eight companies linked to Ogidan received a cumulative ₦9.599 billion from NIRSAL.
The companies identified by the Commission 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.
With the Supreme Court’s decision, the forfeiture of the ₦1.582 billion to the Federal Government becomes final, bringing to a close the legal challenge against the lower courts’ rulings.
