EFCC Arraigns Ex-Refinery Boss Ahmed Dikko Over Alleged N38bn Money Trail

(Boss Ahmed Dikko. Photo Credit: Leadership News)

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Wednesday arraigned the former managing director of Port Harcourt Refining Company Limited (PHRC), Ahmed Dikko, on charges of money laundering.

Mr Dikko appeared before Judge Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja to face 12 counts of money laundering.

The EFCC arraigned him alongside Masterpiece Projects & Investment Limited, and both defendants pleaded not guilty to all the charges. Judge Ekwo subsequently granted him bail in the sum of N150 million with one surety and fixed 12, 13 and 14 October for the commencement of trial.

In the charges filed on 22 June by EFCC’s prosecution lawyer, Ekele Iheanacho, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), the anti-graft agency alleged that Mr Dikko used part of the funds suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activity to acquire a property in Abuja.

Mr Dikko is the immediate past managing director of Port Harcourt Refining Company Limited.

It was earlier exclusively reported on 29 June that the EFCC had filed money laundering charges against Mr Dikko and the immediate past managing director of Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC), Jimoh Olasunkanmi Yisawu, over the alleged diversion of funds approved for the rehabilitation of Nigeria’s state-owned refineries.

It was also reported that Mr Yisawu was separately arraigned on eight counts before the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, Abuja, on 22 June.

The prosecution forms part of the EFCC’s wider efforts to hold erring officials accountable for funds released toward the rehabilitation and turnaround maintenance of the country’s refineries.

Successive governments, including the immediate past Muhammadu Buhari administration, continued spending funds on turnaround maintenance of the government-owned refineries even though they produced no refined products.

The commission accused the two former refinery chiefs of laundering alleged proceeds of unlawful activities, receiving payments from contractors engaged by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, operating accounts used to conceal illicit funds, and carrying out large cash transactions in contravention of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.

In a related development, it was disclosed that the EFCC had recovered more than N9.4 billion and $21.2 million valued at about N29.26 billion along with several landed properties during the investigation, bringing the total value of cash and assets traced by the commission in the refinery probe to about N38.66 billion.

Court grants Dikko bail

The charges were read to Mr Dikko after the prosecution received the court’s approval. Defence lawyer Ikechukwu Ajunwa, SAN, raised no objection to the plea process and urged the court to enter a not-guilty plea on behalf of the second defendant, a company. Mr Dikko pleaded not guilty to all 12 counts.

Mr Ajunwa subsequently moved his client’s bail application, filed on 3 July and anchored on Sections 34(4) and 36 of the Constitution, as well as Sections 156 and 158 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015.

He urged the court to grant bail, arguing that Mr Dikko had complied with the conditions of the administrative bail earlier granted by the EFCC by reporting to the commission as required, and submitted that the defendant would neither abscond nor interfere with the trial.

Opposing the application, Mr Iheanacho cited a counter-affidavit filed on 7 July against the bail request.

In his ruling, Judge Ekwo held that the court retained discretion to grant or refuse bail, adding that since bail is a constitutional right, sufficient material must be placed before the court to justify denying an accused person that relief.

Judge Ekwo consequently granted Mr Dikko bail in the sum of N150 million with one surety, ordering that the surety must own landed property within the court’s jurisdiction, be a responsible citizen, and submit the property’s title documents for verification by the court registrar.

He also directed Mr Dikko to deposit his international passport with the court and barred him from travelling outside Nigeria without the court’s permission.

The case was thereafter adjourned to 12, 13 and 14 October for the commencement of trial.

The charges

Mr Dikko was appointed managing director of Port Harcourt Refining Company Limited in March 2020 to oversee the federal government’s multi-billion-dollar rehabilitation of the state-owned refinery. The charges relate to transactions allegedly carried out between 2022 and 2025, during and after his tenure as managing director.

In the first count, the EFCC alleged that in February 2024, Mr Dikko indirectly made a cash payment equivalent to N218.375 million to one Hadeija Bashir for the purchase of Plot 558, Abubakar Umar Street, Katampe Extension, Abuja, without routing the funds through a financial institution an act the commission said contravened Sections 2(1)(a) and 19(1)(d) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, punishable under Section 19(2)(b) of the same Act.

In the second count, the EFCC alleged that between 21 and 25 October 2022, Mr Dikko retained N100 million in a Fidelity Bank account he operated, said to form part of payments made to him by Ebenco Global Link Limited, a contractor to PHRC under the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), which he allegedly knew constituted proceeds of unlawful activity.

Count three alleged that between 7 December 2022 and 19 December 2023, Mr Dikko retained N90 million in his Guaranty Trust Bank account, being part of funds allegedly received from Ebenco Global Link Limited.

The EFCC further alleged, in count five, that on or about 20 May 2022, Mr Dikko took control of N30 million paid through a Guaranty Trust Bank account operated by Medinus Mildred Oluba, alleging the payment originated from Ebenco Enterprises, a business name linked to a contractor to PHRC.

In count eight, the commission alleged that on or about 26 June 2023, Mr Dikko disguised the origin of N328,710,337.50 paid into a Guaranty Trust Bank account operated by Masterpiece Projects & Investment Limited, alleging that OMSA Integrated Services Limited paid the money from transactions involving NNPCL’s allocation of Vacuum Gas Oil for export, and that Mr Dikko knew it represented proceeds of unlawful activity.

The commission also alleged that between August 2023 and January 2024, Mr Dikko took possession of N59.2 million through his Guaranty Trust Bank account from funds allegedly paid by OMSA Integrated Services Limited to Masterpiece Projects & Investment Limited.

In count 10, the EFCC alleged that between June 2022 and January 2023, Mr Dikko procured Ebenezar Oluwagbemiga of Ebenco Global Link Limited to receive N356,412,500 on his behalf when he reasonably ought to have known the money represented proceeds of unlawful activity.

Count 11 alleged that between October 2022 and May 2025, Mr Dikko converted a total of $77,080 through Ibrahim Isa Yaro, alleging that the money did not form part of his known lawful earnings as a public officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, formerly the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

In the final count, the EFCC alleged that between 22 December 2022 and 11 April 2023, Mr Dikko indirectly took control of N20 million through a Guaranty Trust Bank account operated by his son, Ahmed Ahmed Dikko, alleging that the money constituted proceeds of unlawful activity, punishable under Section 18(3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.