EFCC arraigns ex-Port Harcourt Refinery MD Ahmed Dikko over alleged money laundering

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Wednesday arraigned the immediate past Managing Director of the Port Harcourt Refining Company Limited (PHRC), Ahmed Dikko, before the Federal High Court in Abuja over alleged money laundering.

Dikko appeared before Justice Inyang Ekwo alongside Masterpiece Projects & Investment Limited to face a 12-count charge bordering on alleged money laundering.

The defendants pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

Following their plea, Justice Ekwo granted Dikko bail in the sum of ₦150 million with one surety and adjourned the matter until October 12, 13 and 14, 2026, for the commencement of trial.

The charges, filed by the EFCC on June 22 through its counsel, Ekele Iheanacho (SAN), alleged that Dikko used proceeds of unlawful activities to acquire a property in Abuja.

Dikko is the immediate past Managing Director of the Port Harcourt Refining Company Limited.

The prosecution forms part of the EFCC’s broader investigation into the alleged diversion of funds released for the rehabilitation of Nigeria’s state-owned refineries.

The anti-graft agency had earlier filed similar charges against the immediate past Managing Director of the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC), Jimoh Olasunkanmi Yisawu, over alleged diversion of refinery rehabilitation funds.

According to the EFCC, successive administrations continued to approve huge sums for the turnaround maintenance of the nation’s refineries despite their failure to produce refined petroleum products.

The Commission alleged that the two former refinery chiefs laundered proceeds of unlawful activities, received payments from contractors handling refinery rehabilitation projects, operated accounts used to conceal illicit funds and engaged in large cash transactions in violation of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.

The EFCC also disclosed that it recovered over ₦9.4 billion, 21.2 million US dollars and several landed properties during the investigation, bringing the total value of cash and assets traced in the refinery probe to about ₦38.66 billion.

Court grants bail

Following the reading of the charges, Dikko pleaded not guilty to all 12 counts.

His counsel, Ikechukwu Ajunwa (SAN), urged the court to grant him bail, arguing that the former PHRC boss had complied with the administrative bail conditions earlier granted by the EFCC and would neither abscond nor interfere with the trial.

The prosecution opposed the application, relying on a counter-affidavit filed before the court.

In his ruling, Justice Ekwo held that bail is a constitutional right and that sufficient reasons must be presented before a court can deny an accused person bail.

He subsequently admitted Dikko to bail in the sum of ₦150 million with one surety.

The judge ordered that the surety must own landed property within the court’s jurisdiction, submit the property’s title documents for verification and be a responsible citizen.

Justice Ekwo also directed Dikko to deposit his international passport with the court and barred him from travelling outside Nigeria without the court’s approval.

The allegations

Dikko was appointed Managing Director of PHRC in March 2020 to oversee the Federal Government’s multi-billion-dollar rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery.

The charges relate to transactions allegedly carried out between 2022 and 2025, during and after his tenure.

Among other allegations, the EFCC accused him of making a cash payment of ₦218.375 million for the purchase of a property in Katampe Extension, Abuja, without routing the transaction through a financial institution.

The Commission also alleged that he retained hundreds of millions of naira in various bank accounts, which it claimed were proceeds of unlawful activities linked to contractors handling refinery rehabilitation projects under the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).

Other charges include allegedly disguising the origin of ₦328.7 million paid into an account belonging to Masterpiece Projects & Investment Limited, receiving millions of naira through contractors, converting 77,080 US dollars through a third party and allegedly taking control of ₦20 million through an account operated by his son.

The EFCC maintains that the transactions violate provisions of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.

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