The federal high court in Abuja has ordered the final forfeiture of N400 million allegedly linked to AVM Mikail Abdulraheem to the federal government.
Justice Emeka Nwite granted the order after Abba Muhammed (SAN), the counsel for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) moved the motion to that effect.
The judge held that the application was meritorious.
Justice Nwite said: “It is hereby ordered as follows, “that the applicant has satisfied the condition for grant of order sought and, accordingly, the application is hereby granted as prayed.
“That an order of final forfeiture is hereby made by this honourable court forfeiting to the Federal Government of Nigeria, the sum of four hundred million naira (N400,000,000.00) paid at the instance of Air Vice Marshall Abdulraheem Mikail Babatunde to Cosgrove Investment Limited, which is reasonably suspected to be the proceeds of unlawful activities.
“Issued at Abuja under the Seal of the Court and the Hand of the Presiding Judge, this March 17, 2026.”
NAN reports that the EFCC had, in the motion on notice, sought the relief.
The motion, dated February 2, was filed on February 3 by Muhammed.
The lawyer, in the application, sought five grounds why the application should be granted.
According to him, the court has the statutory powers under the provision of Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud-Related Offences Act, 2006, to grant the prayers sought.
“The funds sought to be forfeited are reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities,” he said.
Muhammed stated that on December 31, 2025, the court made an interim order forfeiting the funds to the Federal Government.
He said the order of the court was published in a national newspaper on page 25 of the January 8 edition.
According to him, upon receipt of the Intelligence, it was assigned to my team for discreet investigation.
The EFCC officer said in the course of the investigation, a property described as House number CC13, Chatteaux Estate, Wuse II, Abuja, a gated six-bedroom luxurious contemporary mansion, worth N400 million to be built by Cosgrove Investment Limited and Aeronautical Engineering & Technical Services Limited (AETSL), was featured.
“Aeronautical Engineering & Technical Services Limited (AETSL) is a company established to develop the capability to conduct in-country Periodic Depot Maintenance (PDM) of Nigerian Air Force aircraft and associated equipment, amongst others and the members of the Board of Directors of the AETSL are drawn from within the Nigerian Air Force.
“AVM Mikail served in AETSL between 2012 and 2014,” Kwaido said.
He said AETSL transferred the total sum of N122 million in two tranches of N100 million on December 23, 2013, and N22 million on January 21, 2014, to AVM Abdulraheem’s company – Mofaza-Mafoz Nigeria Limited with account number 0483004284 domiciled in EcoBank.
“The statement of account of Mofaza-Mafoz Nigeria Limited stated above showing the inflows is hereby annexed and marked as Exhibit EFCC 1,” he said.