The Supreme Court has affirmed the permanent forfeiture of ₦1.5 billion recovered from Stephen Olusegun Ogidan, a former consultant of the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL).
In a unanimous judgment delivered on Friday, a five-member panel of the apex court dismissed Ogidan’s challenge and upheld earlier decisions of both the court of appeal in Abuja and the federal high court, which had ordered the final forfeiture of the money to the federal government.
The lead judgment, read by Justice Abubakar Umar on behalf of Justice Habib Abiru, held that Ogidan had no legal basis to contest the forfeiture after voluntarily surrendering the funds under an arrangement to avoid criminal prosecution.
The court noted that available records showed Ogidan admitted that the funds were linked to unlawful activities and agreed to return them to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as part of a settlement to prevent prosecution.
According to the apex court, having willingly returned the money, the former consultant could not later seek to reverse the forfeiture process through the courts.
The judges also criticised what they described as the “audacity” of the appeal, expressing displeasure that the legal challenge was sustained despite the earlier voluntary refund and agreement with anti-graft authorities.
The court further awarded ₦5 million costs against Ogidan in favour of the EFCC.
Ogidan, who served as a National Coordinating Consultant for NIRSAL, was earlier investigated over allegations of criminal breach of trust, bribery, and money laundering.
The EFCC had argued that he benefited from illicit payments allegedly received from consultants he was meant to supervise, and that he later agreed to refund the funds to avoid prosecution.
Following his refund, the federal high court had granted an interim forfeiture order in 2024 before making it final in January 2025, a decision later upheld by the court of appeal and now confirmed by the Supreme Court.
The ruling effectively ends all legal efforts by Ogidan to reclaim the funds, which now permanently belong to the federal government.