N1.32bn Fraud: EFCC arraigns ex-MD of Port Harcourt refinery, Dikko

By Ikechukwu Nnochiri

ABUJA — The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on Wednesday, arraigned the former Managing Director of Port Harcourt Refining Company Ltd (PHRC), Mr. Ahmed Adamu Dikko, before the Federal High Court in Abuja on a 12-count money laundering charge.

Dikko, who led the Port Harcourt Refining Company for about four years, was docked alongside a firm, Masterpiece Projects & Investment Limited, which was listed as the 2nd defendant in the charge.

The EFCC alleged that the defendants laundered funds totaling about N1.32 billion linked to contractors engaged by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery.

It told the court that the funds were laundered through cash property purchases, undisclosed bank retentions, third-party fund concealment, and unauthorised currency conversion, in violation of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.

Meanwhile, the defendants pleaded not guilty to the charge that was read to them before Justice Inyang Ekwo.

Following the plea, the defence counsel, Mr. Okechukwu Ajunwa, SAN, urged the court to grant the 1st defendant bail, pending the determination of the case.

Although the prosecution counsel, Mr. Ekele Iheanacho, SAN, opposed the bail application, Justice Ekwo, in his ruling, said he was minded to release the defendant on bail pending the conclusion of the trial.

Consequently, the court granted the 1st defendant bail to the tune of N150 million with a surety in like sum.

The court stressed that the surety must be resident within the Federal Capital Territory with landed property valued at not less than the bail sum.

Justice Ekwo held that the defendant should be remanded in the custody of the EFCC pending the perfection of his bail conditions.

The matter was subsequently adjourned to October 12, 13 and 14 for trial.

Dikko, an engineer, was reportedly appointed Managing Director of the Port Harcourt Refining Company in March 2020, with a mandate to drive the rehabilitation of the moribund refinery. He led the company for about four years before exiting the position.

The charges against him formed part of a wider EFCC investigation into the alleged diversion of funds released for the turnaround maintenance and rehabilitation of Nigeria’s state-owned refineries.

Some of the counts in the charge against him, marked FHC/ABJ/CR/360/2026, read: “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.”

“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 Plc Account No. 0123201507, operated by Masterpiece Projects & Investment Limited, by OMSA Integrated Services Limited, from transactions involving NNPC Limited’s 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 to Section 18(2)(a), punishable under Section 18(3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.”

“That you, Ahmed Adamu Dikko, between October 2022 and May 2025, did convert the aggregate sum of $77,080 through Ibrahim Isa Yaro, which amount did not form part of your known lawful earnings as a former public officer with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18(2)(b) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, and punishable under Section 18(3) of the same Act.”

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