The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the final forfeiture of N400 million allegedly connected to Air Vice Marshal Mikail Abdulraheem, directing that the funds be handed over to the Federal Government.
Justice Emeka Nwite granted the order after hearing a motion filed by counsel to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abba Muhammed, SAN, ruling that the application had merit.
Although the decision was delivered on March 17, the enrolled order was sighted on Thursday in Abuja.
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 17th day of March, 2026.”
Recall that the EFCC had, in a motion on notice marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2710/2025, sought the court’s approval for the forfeiture.
The motion, dated February 2 and filed on February 3 by Muhammed, outlined five grounds in support of the application.
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 is reasonably suspected to be proceed of unlawful activities,” he said.
Muhammed recalled that the court had earlier issued an interim forfeiture order on December 31, 2025.
He added that the order was published on page 25 of the Vanguard Newspaper of January 8.
The EFCC counsel noted that no reasonable cause had been presented to prevent the funds, which were subject to the interim forfeiture, from being permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.
In an affidavit supporting the motion, Abubakar Kwaido, an investigating officer with the Economic Governance Section of the EFCC, stated that he was part of the investigative team.
He said the commission “received an Intelligence on the purchase of several luxurious and high end properties by several public officials and private individuals using unlicensed bureau de change (BDC) operators in a bid to launder suspected proceeds of unlawful activities.”
According to him, upon receipt of the Intelligence, it was assigned to my team for discreet investigation.
Kwaido explained that during the probe, a property identified as House No. CC13 Chatteaux Estate, Wuse II—a six-bedroom luxury mansion valued at N400 million—was traced to developments involving Cosgrove Investment Limited and Aeronautical Engineering & Technical Services Limited (AETSL).
“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 aircrafts 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 further disclosed that AETSL transferred N122 million in two instalments—N100 million on December 23, 2013, and N22 million on January 21, 2014—to Mofaza-Mafoz Nigeria Limited, a company linked to Abdulraheem.
“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.
The investigator alleged that Abdulraheem serves as Managing Director of both Mafoza-Mafoz Nigeria Limited and Mafoza Technologies Nigeria Limited.
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