EFCC Begins Probe of Ex-NMDPRA MD Farouk Ahmed, Collates Data from Banks, Companies, and Swiss School

Investigation into the activities of former Managing Director of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Farouk Ahmed, following a petition filed by the Chairman of Dangote Industries, Aliko Dangote, has commenced by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The probe, according to EFCC sources, will include writing to the Swiss school where Ahmed’s children are enrolled.

Dangote had, in December 2025, petitioned the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, alleging that Ahmed spent about $7m on the secondary education of his children in Switzerland.

In the petition, Dangote accused Ahmed of abusing his office in violation of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers, alleging unlawful spending of public funds running into millions of dollars.

Dangote later withdrew the petition from the ICPC through a letter from his lawyer dated January 5, 2026.

However, the ICPC said it would continue its investigation in line with Sections 3(14) and 27(3) of its enabling Act.

On July 6, the Dangote Group media team said Dangote, through his legal representative, submitted a fresh petition against Ahmed to the EFCC.

Speaking with our correspondent on Saturday, a senior EFCC official familiar with the investigation confirmed that the agency had begun work on the petition, although Ahmed had not yet been invited.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, said the commission had started by writing to parties and institutions mentioned in the petition to obtain information needed for the investigation.

According to the source, inviting the accused would come after preliminary inquiries, including engagements with local and international entities referenced in the petition.

The source said, “We have prepared the ground and have started working on it. We have not invited the accused.

“We are writing to all the parties mentioned in the petition. Whoever is indicted is always the last to be invited. All the parties mentioned will be written to, to provide information that will be used to confront the person accused. When you have not carried out both local and international engagements, you cannot just invite the accused.

“What we are doing is the normal investigative procedure of writing to all the relevant entities and parties—companies, government bodies and international institutions—involved to obtain their responses. Inviting the accused will come last. We will definitely write to the institutions mentioned in the petition.”

Another official added, “We will have to confirm some claims in the petition; and this may lead to writing the Switzerland school mentioned in it.”

The EFCC has, in previous cases, written to educational institutions as part of its investigations into alleged misuse of public funds for school fees.

During the case involving the former Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, the Chairman of the EFCC, Ola Olukoyede, disclosed in 2024 that Bello allegedly transferred $720,000 from government funds to a bureau de change shortly before leaving office to pay his child’s school fees in advance.

In the course of that investigation, the American International School of Abuja, in a letter addressed to the Lagos Zonal Commander of the EFCC, confirmed that a total of $845,852 had been paid in tuition fees to the school from September 7, 2021.

The school added that $760,910 was refundable after deducting the cost of educational services already rendered.

(This report was originally published by PUNCH)