The Court of Appeal sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, has dismissed an application by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) seeking permission to challenge an earlier judgment involving the bank accounts of businesswoman Aisha Achimugu at the Supreme Court.

The ruling, delivered on Thursday, October 22, 2026, marks another procedural setback for the anti-graft agency in its legal dispute with Achimugu over the freezing of accounts linked to her and companies associated with her.

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The appellate court held that the commission had failed to establish sufficient grounds to justify the application for leave to appeal.

According to an excerpt of the ruling, the court stated that the EFCC’s motion “lacks merit and accordingly dismissed.”

The decision leaves in place, for now, the Court of Appeal’s substantive judgment of July 22, 2026, which discharged and vacated an interim order freezing the affected accounts.

The dispute stems from an order granted by the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt on April 10, 2025, following an EFCC application seeking restrictions on accounts linked to Achimugu and associated corporate entities.

The order directed the affected banks to prevent outward transactions on the accounts while the commission pursued its investigation.

Achimugu subsequently challenged the restrictions, arguing that their continued enforcement amounted to an abuse of court process.

In its July 22 judgment, a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal comprising Justices Muhammad Ibrahim Sirajo, Ishaq Mohammed Sani and Eleojo Enenche unanimously set aside the freezing order.

The panel held that allowing an interim ex parte order to remain in force for more than 15 months was inconsistent with its intended temporary purpose and undermined the rule of law.

The court reasoned that such orders were designed to preserve disputed funds pending the determination of substantive applications, rather than serve as indefinite restrictions on access to bank accounts.

The legal dispute also involved the transfer of ₦1.8bn from a SunTrust Bank account to a Central Bank of Nigeria/EFCC recovery account while the freezing order remained in force.

On August 27, 2025, Justice Turaki Adamu of the Federal High Court ruled that the transfer was unlawful and ordered the money to be returned.

The EFCC challenged that decision at the Court of Appeal, raising issues including the trial court’s jurisdiction to deliver its ruling during judicial vacation, an alleged denial of fair hearing and the evaluation of evidence relating to the accounts.

In its July judgment, the appellate court rejected the commission’s arguments concerning jurisdiction and fair hearing.

It held that delivering a reserved ruling during judicial vacation did not, in itself, invalidate the proceedings.

However, the court found that the evidence before the lower court did not sufficiently establish that the ₦1.8bn originated from an account covered by the April 10, 2025, freezing order.

It consequently set aside the directive ordering the reversal of the transfer, while clarifying that this finding did not amount to a validation of the legality of the EFCC’s transfer directive.

Separately, the appellate court discharged the account-freezing order, concluding that the prolonged restrictions could no longer be justified as an interim measure.

Achimugu, founder of Oceangate Engineering Oil and Gas Limited and Group Managing Director of Felak Concept Group, has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and criticised the commission’s handling of investigations involving her business activities.

In a public statement in July, she accused the EFCC of intimidation, reputational damage and disrupting her business interests.

She also expressed concern about the impact of the enforcement measures on investments, business relationships and the operations of companies she said had been built over several years.

The businesswoman further criticised what she described as a trial by media, maintaining that allegations against individuals should be established through due judicial process.

The latest ruling concerns the EFCC’s attempt to obtain permission to challenge the Court of Appeal’s earlier decision.