The Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed an amended go well with filed by Intels Nigeria Limited looking for to restrain the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from investigating an alleged $74 million debt owed to the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) by the corporate.
Justice Emeka Nwite dismissed the case on October 2, 2026, in accordance to court docket paperwork completely reviewed by Nairametrics.
Intels had, in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/164/2022, dragged the EFCC, its chairman, the NPA, and the Attorney General of the Federation (the primary to fourth defendants) earlier than the court docket.
Among its reliefs, the corporate sought an order restraining the EFCC and its operatives from additional demanding the sum of $74 million from the plaintiff.
The quantity was allegedly due to the NPA as fee beneath the Managing Agency Agreement between Intels and the NPA, first entered into in 1998 and renewed in 2003, 2011, and 2018.
Intels’ authorized group urged the court docket to maintain that the continual invitation, arrest, and interrogation of its officers over “purely civil matters relating to, connected with and arising from the agency agreements between the Plaintiff and the NPA” amounted to illegal harassment, intimidation, and misuse of the EFCC’s statutory powers.
Intels claimed that in interrogations in April 2021, EFCC operatives allegedly tried to interpret contractual provisions unilaterally with out offering a replica of any petition, rejected its ongoing account reconciliation course of, and asserted that their very own calculations confirmed a $74 million deficit.
NPA’s objection to the go well with
In its preliminary objection filed in July 2025, the NPA urged the court docket to strike out the go well with.
The NPA argued that Intels was difficult the powers of the EFCC and whether or not its actions amounted to illegal intimidation and misuse of statutory powers.
It additional argued that no allegation of wrongdoing had been made towards the NPA and that there was no affordable reason behind motion towards it.
EFCC’s place on the investigation
The EFCC, however, maintained that the criticism (petition) forwarded to it by the NPA disclosed issues requiring felony investigation.
The fee advised the court docket that the “NPA complained of the non-remittance of the sum of USD148,152,572.42 as at 2017 and further alleged that certain third-party payers had been directed to make payments into the account of Intels West Africa Ltd UK with Standard Chartered Bank rather than into the account contemplated by the contractual arrangements.”
The EFCC’s proof additional confirmed that one Mr Kalu Uche was invited by the fee and made a press release throughout its investigation.
The EFCC additionally cited allegations regarding transactions and funds amounting to a considerably bigger determine, stated to be as a lot as $1,247,947,083.
Court’s reasoning for dismissing Intels’ go well with
In his judgment, Justice Nwite held that the existence of a contractual relationship between events doesn’t, by itself, decide whether or not an allegation arising from transactions beneath that relationship is civil or felony in nature.
He additionally burdened {that a} contractual transaction could present the background to an allegation of felony diversion or conversion.
- “Conversely, the fact that a contractual relationship exists cannot confer upon a law enforcement agency a power to determine the parties’ contractual rights or to adjudicate upon the disputed amount,” he acknowledged.
- The decide confirmed that Intels and the NPA had a contractual relationship, including, “They plainly did.”
Nwite highlighted that though the EFCC’s statutory powers have limits, the existence of an arbitration clause within the events’ settlement doesn’t represent a whole bar to a real felony investigation.
- “An arbitration clause regulates the resolution of contractual disputes between the parties; it does not confer immunity upon transactions from investigation where there is credible material suggesting that a criminal offence may have been committed,” the decide acknowledged.
- On the totality of the proof, the decide stated he was happy that the criticism that led to the EFCC investigation had a factual foundation arising from allegations of diversion and conversion, which had been sufficiently distinct from the mere existence of a debt.
- Nwite burdened that it will be incorrect to characterise the EFCC’s whole intervention within the case as a purely civil debt restoration train.
The decide additionally acknowledged that nothing in his determination must be understood as conferring on the EFCC the authority to lastly decide the contractual accounts of Intels and the NPA or to deprive the events of any contractual or judicial treatments out there to them.
He held that the contractual relationship remained ruled by the agreements between the events and the relevant dispute-resolution mechanisms, whereas any investigation may proceed solely inside the scope of the statutory powers conferred on the investigating company and in relation to issues correctly falling inside these powers.
In the circumstances, the decide stated he was unable to discover that Intels had established grounds for the broad declarations and injunctive orders it sought towards the defendants.
According to the decide, the proof earlier than the court docket didn’t justify declaring the EFCC’s investigation illegal merely as a result of the transactions beneath investigation arose from a contractual relationship or as a result of the events had been concurrently engaged in reconciling their accounts.
He defined that granting the plaintiff’s reliefs of their broad type would have the impact of stopping the investigation of transactions merely as a result of they arose beneath contracts containing dispute-resolution provisions.
He added that this may transcend defending Intel’s contractual rights and would, in impact, confer immunity on the transactions from lawful investigation.
- “The evidence does not warrant such an order,” Nwite acknowledged.
He subsequently refused to grant Intels’ reliefs and dismissed the go well with.
INTELS’ dispute with the NPA
INTELS Nigeria Limited is a agency engaged in built-in logistics companies for the Nigerian oil and fuel trade.
Nairametrics remembers that in October 2017, the Federal Government ordered the NPA to cancel its boat pilotage monitoring and supervision contract with INTELS over an alleged breach of contract.
- The NPA alleged that INTELS had failed to remit boat pilotage income amounting to roughly $207.646 million, alongside different revenues.
- INTELS denied the allegations on the time, arguing that the NPA was the occasion indebted to it.
In 2023, former Nigerian Vice President Atiku Abubakar additionally countered claims that he still owned a stake in INTELS, saying he had bought his curiosity in 2020 for $100 million.
