Admin I Thursday, July 09,2026
ABUJA — The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned the former Managing Director of the Port Harcourt Refining Company Limited (PHRC), Mr. Ahmed Adamu Dikko, before a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja over his alleged involvement in a N1.32 billion money laundering scheme.
Dikko, who sat at the helm of the nation’s premier refining facility for approximately four years, was docked on Wednesday, July 8, 2026, before Justice Inyang Ekwo. He faces a 12-count charge bordering on the concealment of illicit funds, unauthorized currency conversion, and laundering of proceeds derived from corruption.
The criminal charge, marked FHC/ABJ/CR/360/2026, was formally put together and filed on June 22, 2026, by the anti-graft agency’s prosecution counsel, Ekele Iheanacho, SAN. Named alongside the embattled former public officer as the second defendant in the suit is a private firm, Masterpiece Projects & Investment Limited.
According to the anti-graft agency, the total sum of N1,322,839,112.70 tied to the charges represents illicit kickbacks and proceeds filtered from contractors engaged by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) for the highly publicized rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery.
The EFCC alleged that Dikko systematically laundered these funds through several mechanisms, including aggressive cash property acquisitions, undisclosed bank retentions, the masking of funds via third-party proxies, and unauthorized foreign currency conversions. These acts, the commission stated, directly violate the stringent provisions of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
A breakdown of the specific charges contained in the sheet reveals a pattern of luxury real estate acquisitions and complex financial maneuvers. Count one of the charge alleges that Dikko circumvented the conventional banking system to execute a massive cash transaction for property in an upscale Abuja neighborhood.
The count reads in part:
“That you AHMED ADAMU DIKKO… did directly make cash payment of the dollar equivalent of the sum of N218,375,000.00 to one Hadeija Bashir for the purchase of Plot 558, Abubakar Umar Street, Katampe Extension, Abuja without passing through a financial Institution and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Sections 2(1)(a), 19(d) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022 and punishable under Section 19(2)(b) of the same Act.”
Furthermore, the prosecution spotlighted how corporate accounts were allegedly used to layer funds derived from lucrative oil allocations. Count eight of the charge highlights a transaction involving hundreds of millions of naira linked to export allocations.
The count states:
“That you AHMED ADAMU DIKKO, former Managing Director of the Port Harcourt Refining Company Ltd (PHRC) on or about the 26th of June, 2023 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court disguised the origin of the sum of N328,710,337.50 (Three Hundred and Twenty Eight Million, Seven Hundred and Ten Thousand, Three Hundred and Thirty Seven Naira, Fifty Kobo) paid into the GTBank Account Plc No. 0123201507 operated by Masterpiece Projects & Investment Limited by OMSA Integrated Services Limited from the transactions involving NNPC Limited allocation of Vacuum Gas Oil for export when you knew that the said sum of N328,710,337.50 constituted proceeds of unlawful activity and you thereby committed an offence contrary Section 18(2) (a) and punishable under Section 18(3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.”
The anti-graft agency further accused the former refinery boss of accumulating foreign currency that far outpaced his official remuneration as a civil servant. Count eleven notes that between October 2022 and May 2025, Dikko converted an aggregate sum of $77,080 through a proxy identified as Ibrahim Isa Yaro—funds the EFCC insists “did not form part of your known lawful earnings as a former public officer with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd.”
When the 12 counts were read out in the open court, the defendant stood up and firmly pleaded “not guilty” to all the allocations leveled against him by the federal government.
Following the plea, the defense counsel, Okechukwu Ajunwa, SAN, immediately moved a formal application, urging the court to admit his client to bail pending the final determination of the substantive suit. Ajunwa argued that his client is a responsible citizen who would not jump bail and would be available to face trial.
However, the EFCC prosecution counsel, Ekele Iheanacho, SAN, vehemently opposed the bail application, presenting counter-arguments to the court and urging Justice Ekwo to deny the request to ensure the defendant appears for his trial.
Delivering his ruling on the application, Justice Inyang Ekwo exercised his discretion to grant the former PHRC boss bail, albeit under stringent conditions.
The court admitted Dikko to bail in the sum of N150,000,000 (One Hundred and Fifty Million Naira) with one reliable surety. The judge stipulated that the surety must reside within the jurisdiction of the court and must possess a verified landed property valued at an amount not less than the N150 million bail sum.
Crucially, Justice Ekwo ordered that the former managing director be remanded in the custody of the EFCC pending the time he is able to fully perfect and meet the set bail conditions.
The court subsequently adjourned the matter to October 12, 13, and 14, 2026, for the definite commencement of the full criminal trial.
