‎Supreme Court Upholds Final Forfeiture of N1.58bn Linked to Ex-NIRSAL Consultant, Orders N5m Costs

The Supreme Court has affirmed the final forfeiture of N1.582 billion linked to former National Coordinating Consultant of the Nigerian Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL), Steve Ogidan, to the Federal Government, bringing an end to a protracted legal battle over the funds.
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‎In a unanimous judgment delivered on June 19, 2026, a five-member panel of the apex court led by Justice Habeeb Adewale Abiru upheld the earlier ruling of the Court of Appeal, which affirmed the Federal High Court’s decision ordering the forfeiture.
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‎The Supreme Court dismissed Ogidan’s appeal for lacking merit and ordered him to pay the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) N5 million as costs.
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‎Justice Abiru held that the lower courts acted within the law in granting the forfeiture order. He further noted that Ogidan and other parties involved had voluntarily returned the disputed funds as part of an out-of-court settlement, a development the court said reinforced the legality of the final forfeiture.
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‎The EFCC had traced the funds to alleged proceeds of bribery, accusing Ogidan of receiving illicit payments from consultants he was responsible for supervising under NIRSAL.
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‎Acting on the findings, the anti-graft agency, through its counsel, Ndeh Godspower Isotu, approached the Federal High Court in Abuja, where Justice Inyang Ekwo granted an interim forfeiture order on February 5, 2024, followed by a final forfeiture order.
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‎Ogidan challenged the decision at the Court of Appeal, arguing that the trial court wrongly applied Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act in ordering the forfeiture. However, the appellate court dismissed his appeal on June 20, 2025, prompting him to seek redress at the Supreme Court.
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‎According to the EFCC, investigations revealed that between December 2015 and June 2021, eight companies linked to Ogidan received a cumulative N9.6 billion from NIRSAL.
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‎The companies include 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.
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‎The Supreme Court’s ruling effectively exhausts Ogidan’s legal options and cements the Federal Government’s ownership of the forfeited funds.
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