A Nigerian court has permanently stripped a Borno State government appointee of a luxury private jet he allegedly purchased using bribe money extracted from a Chinese construction giant awarded hundreds of millions of dollars in federal oil contracts – money that was laundered through a currency dealer who later claimed he knew nothing about the transaction.
Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Maitama, Abuja, on Monday granted the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission a final forfeiture order against a Hawker 125 private jet, model 800XP, registration number 5N-AMK, ruling that its owner had failed to demonstrate that the aircraft was acquired through legitimate means.
The ruling caps a fraud investigation that cuts to the heart of Nigeria’s infrastructure corruption crisis: a public official on a government steering committee using insider access to sell classified bidding information to a foreign contractor competing for billion-dollar NNPC contracts — then laundering the proceeds across international borders to purchase an aircraft through forged invoices and a currency exchange front.
THE SCHEME
Court documents and EFCC investigator Aminu Abdullahi’s sworn affidavit lay out a scheme that began in 2021, when the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited awarded contracts under the Maiduguri Emergency Power Project valued at a combined $114.1 million and ₦23.2 billion.
Abdulsalam Mustapha Kachallah, then Chairman of the Borno State Rural Electrification Board and a sitting member of the project’s steering committee, was positioned to observe the entire procurement process from the inside. Investigators allege he monetised that access — entering into covert agreements with China Machinery Engineering Company, known as CMEC, selling the Chinese firm privileged bidding intelligence in exchange for financial inducements.
CMEC subsequently secured three contracts under the project valued at $52.1 million and ₦20.2 billion.
The payoff was routed through Afuwa Integrated Services Limited, a Bureau de Change operator, which CMEC falsely declared to be a legitimate subcontractor. On Kachallah’s instruction, CMEC transferred $2.07 million into Afuwa’s Stanbic IBTC Bank account. Forged invoices were then manufactured to create the appearance that real services had been rendered. The money was subsequently wired to a Brazilian account and used to buy the Hawker jet from a Brazilian company.
The aircraft was then transferred to Valiente Jet Limited, a company in which Kachallah held an interest, through what investigators described as a fictitious ownership arrangement.
THE COURT’S FINDING
Justice Nwite was unconvinced by Kachallah’s counter-arguments. The judge found that Valiente Jet Limited had produced no credible evidence establishing the lawful origin of the funds used to acquire the aircraft. The court was particularly struck by the role of the Bureau de Change operator — a currency dealer who, when confronted, denied any knowledge of the nature of the transaction he had ostensibly facilitated.
“The interested party has not demonstrated with evidence the lawful origin of the funds used to purchase the aircraft,” Justice Nwite held, adding that the disguised manner of the acquisition lent further credence to the unlawfulness of the entire transaction.
An interim forfeiture order had been granted on 13 November 2025, with the court directing the EFCC to publish notice in a national newspaper inviting any interested party to show cause. Kachallah’s company filed affidavits in opposition, arguing that payments through Afuwa were based on a legitimate consultancy agreement with CMEC. His counsel, M.E. Oru SAN, also challenged the admissibility of certain exhibits and argued that his client was legally distinct from the companies involved.
The EFCC, represented by Iheanacho Ekele SAN and O.S. Ujam, countered by invoking the principle that courts may lift the corporate veil in cases of fraud and illegality to identify the natural persons behind the corporate structures. Justice Nwite sided with the Commission.
BROADER NNPC PROBE
Monday’s ruling is not an isolated development. The Maiduguri Emergency Power Project has emerged as a focal point in the EFCC’s widening probe of NNPC-linked contracting fraud. In April, a separate Federal High Court ordered the permanent forfeiture of ₦3.44 billion and three properties linked to Salihu Nuhu Jamari, former Managing Director of NNPC Gas and Power Investment Company Limited, who investigators allege exercised significant control over the same MEPP, along with the Abuja Independent Power Project and the Benin Gas Plant Project.
Jamari did not contest that forfeiture.
The pattern emerging from the two cases points to systematic looting of a single infrastructure programme — a power project intended to serve one of Nigeria’s most conflict-affected cities — by officials operating across multiple levels of the procurement chain.
EFCC REACTION
The Commission’s Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, said the ruling demonstrated the EFCC’s determination to ensure that proceeds of corruption are recovered and returned to the public treasury.
“The Commission remains committed to investigating and prosecuting financial crimes linked to public projects, including the Maiduguri Emergency Power Project,” Oyewale said.
The aircraft has been forfeited to the Federal Government. Criminal proceedings in the matter are continuing.
