Nigeria’s anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has commenced an investigation into a petition submitted by Africa’s richest person, Aliko Dangote, against a former Managing Director of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Farouk Ahmed.
The petition, submitted through Dangote’s legal representative, accuses Ahmed of abusing his office and allegedly spending public funds on the education of his children.
Dangote had first petitioned the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) in December 2025, alleging that Ahmed spent about $7 million on his children’s secondary education in Switzerland.
The petition accused Ahmed of violating the Code of Conduct for Public Officers and unlawfully spending public funds running into millions of dollars.
Dangote later withdrew the petition from the ICPC through a letter dated January 5, 2026. The ICPC, however, said it would continue its investigation under Sections 3(14) and 27(3) of its enabling Act.
On July 6, the Dangote Group media team said Dangote submitted a fresh petition against Ahmed to the EFCC.
A senior EFCC official familiar with the matter confirmed to Sunday PUNCH on Saturday that the commission had started work on the petition, but said Ahmed had not been invited.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the commission had begun writing to parties and institutions mentioned in the petition to obtain information needed for the investigation.
“We have prepared the ground and have started working on it. We have not invited the accused.”
“We are writing to all the parties mentioned in the petition. Whoever is indicted is always the last to be invited. All the parties mentioned will be written to, to provide information that will be used to confront the person accused. When you have not carried out both local and international engagements, you cannot just invite the accused.
“What we are doing is the normal investigative procedure of writing to all the relevant entities and parties—companies, government bodies and international institutions—involved to obtain their responses. Inviting the accused will come last. We will definitely write to the institutions mentioned in the petition.”
Another official added, “We will have to confirm some claims in the petition; and this may lead to writing the Switzerland school mentioned in it.”
The EFCC has previously written to educational institutions in similar investigations.
In 2024, during an investigation involving former Kogi State governor Yahaya Bello, the EFCC chairman Ola Olukoyede said Bello allegedly transferred $720,000 from government funds to a bureau de change shortly before leaving office to pay his child’s school fees in advance.
In the course of that investigation, the American International School of Abuja confirmed in a letter to the EFCC that $845,852 had been paid in tuition fees to the school from September 7, 2021, adding that $760,910 was refundable after deducting the cost of educational services already rendered.
