EFCC arraigns former MD of Port-Harcourt Refinery for alleged N1.32bn money laundering

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

The charge, marked FHC/ABJ/CR/360/2026 and filed on June 22 by the Commission’s counsel, Ekele Iheanacho, SAN, listed Dikko and Masterpiece Projects & Investment Limited as the first and second defendants, respectively.

Dikko, who led the Port Harcourt Refining Company for about four years, pleaded not guilty to the 12-count charge filed against him by the Commission on Wednesday, July 8, 2026.

The EFCC accused Dikko of laundering N1,322,839,112.07 (One Billion, Three Hundred and Twenty-Two Million, Eight Hundred and Thirty-Nine Thousand, One Hundred and Twelve Naira, Seven Kobo) in proceeds allegedly linked to contractors engaged by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery. 

The laundering was allegedly executed through cash property purchases, undisclosed bank retentions, third-party fund concealment, and unauthorized currency conversion, in violation of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.

Count one of the charge reads in part: “That you, AHMED ADAMU DIKKO… did directly make a 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) and 19(d) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, and punishable under Section 19(2)(b) of the same Act.”

Count eight reads: “That you, AHMED ADAMU DIKKO, former Managing Director of the PortHarcourt 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 GTBank Plc Account No. 0123201507 operated by Masterpiece Projects & Investment Limited by OMSA Integrated Services Limited. This was from transactions involving the NNPC Limited allocation of Vacuum Gas Oil for export, when you knew that the said sum of N328,710,337.50 constituted proceeds of an unlawful activity, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18(2)(a) and punishable under Section 18(3) of the Money Laundering(Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.”

Count eleven reads: “That you, AHMED ADAMU DIKKO, between October 2022 and May 2025, did convert the aggregate sum of $77,080 through Ibrahim Isa Yaro, an amount which 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.”

The defendant pleaded not guilty to the charges when they were read to him.
Thereafter, counsel for the defendant, Okechukwu Ajunwa, SAN, urged the court to grant the defendant bail pending the determination of the suit. Iheanacho, however, opposed the bail application.

In his ruling on the bail application, Justice Ekwo granted the defendant bail in the sum of N150,000,000 (One Hundred and Fifty Million Naira) with a surety who must be resident within the jurisdiction of the court and possess landed property valued at no less than the bail sum. He ordered that the defendant be remanded in the custody of the EFCC until he is able to meet the bail conditions.

The matter was therefore adjourned to October 12, 13, and 14, 2026, for trial.

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

The charges against Dikko form 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.