Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is set to arraign two former heads of state-owned refineries in separate money laundering cases involving hundreds of millions of naira and more than $900,000 in alleged illicit transactions.
Court documents filed before Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja show that Jimoh Yisawu, the former managing director of Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company Ltd, is due to be arraigned on Friday on an eight-count charge. Ahmed Dikko, the former managing director of Port Harcourt Refining Company Ltd, is scheduled to appear before the same court on Wednesday to answer a 12-count indictment.
The prosecutions mark the latest anti-corruption cases involving senior officials linked to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited and its subsidiaries, as authorities intensify scrutiny of financial transactions within the state-owned energy sector.
According to the charge sheet, Yisawu is accused of indirectly converting $789,950 between October 2023 and May 2025 through an associate, Samaila Bala. Prosecutors allege the funds were proceeds of unlawful activity and fell outside his known lawful earnings as a former public official.
The EFCC further alleges that he made cash payments totalling $789,950 to Bala without routing the transactions through a financial institution, contrary to provisions of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
A separate count alleges that between February 2024 and March 2025, Yisawu indirectly converted a further $122,600 through Rasheed Yusuf of Rasheedat Anike Global Ventures, again using cash transactions outside the banking system.
The charges also include allegations relating to earlier financial transactions. Prosecutors claim that between January and June 2015, Yisawu received ₦25.56m into accounts held with Zenith Bank and Access Bank from JKpeez Impex Co., a contractor to a subsidiary of the former Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, when he allegedly ought to have known the funds were proceeds of unlawful activity.
Other counts accuse him of transferring ₦65.86m to Cordros Securities Limited to purchase treasury bills in his own name and retaining ₦18m paid into his Stanbic IBTC account on behalf of Ebenco Global Link Limited, a company identified in the charge sheet as a contractor to NNPC Limited.
Dikko, meanwhile, faces 12 charges arising from transactions dating back to 2022.
Among the allegations is that in February 2024 he made a cash payment equivalent to ₦218.38m to one Hadeija Bashir for the purchase of a property in Katampe Extension, Abuja, without using a financial institution, as required under Nigeria’s money laundering laws.
The EFCC also alleges that Dikko retained ₦100m and ₦90m in separate bank accounts from funds paid by Ebenco Global Link Limited, described in the charges as a contractor to the Port Harcourt Refining Company. Prosecutors further allege that he concealed the origin of ₦90m through an Access Bank account operated by Aisha Ahmed Dikko.
In another count, the commission alleges that Dikko, together with Masterpiece Projects & Investment Limited, disguised the source of ₦328.71m paid into a Guaranty Trust Bank account by OMSA Integrated Services Limited from transactions involving NNPC Limited’s allocation of Vacuum Gas Oil for export.
The remaining charges accuse him of taking possession of ₦59.2m through funds channelled via Masterpiece Projects & Investment Limited, procuring another individual to receive ₦356.41m on his behalf, converting $77,080 through an associate, Ibrahim Isa Yaro, and using his son’s Guaranty Trust Bank account to receive ₦20m allegedly paid by Ebenco Global Link Limited.
The EFCC contends that the alleged offences breach provisions of both the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, and the earlier Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011, as amended.
The defendants are expected to enter their pleas when they appear before the Federal High Court. Under Nigerian law, criminal charges are allegations, and both men are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty by the court.
