How Oil Magnate Abdullahi Bashir Haske Evaded EFCC Custody Amid $56M Frozen Funds, NNPCL Contract Controversy

Abdullahi Bashir Haske, a Nigerian oil and aviation entrepreneur married to a daughter of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, has become the central figure in one of Nigeria’s most closely watched anti-corruption cases of the past year. The investigation has drawn in the leadership of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and prompted the businessman to leave the country while under probe by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Born on December 13, 1987, in Yola, Adamawa State, Haske founded and heads AA&R Investment Group, a diversified conglomerate with interests in oil and gas, aviation, agriculture, logistics, ICT and marine services. He also owns the energy firm at the centre of the scandal. His business empire reportedly holds interests in OML 148, an onshore oil block in the Niger Delta, alongside aviation services run directly and through affiliate companies. Before the EFCC probe, he had built a public profile as a philanthropist and industry figure.

Haske was first reportedly detained by the EFCC in July 2025, as investigators expanded a corruption probe involving money laundering, shell companies and questionable oil contracts linked to NNPCL and private jet operations. Sources said the financial trail led back to contracts allegedly awarded through NNPC EnServe Ltd, a subsidiary under NNPCL’s Upstream Directorate. Investigators traced large sums moved through shell companies, aviation operators and offshore accounts.

His proximity to NNPCL Group Chief Executive Bayo Ojulari added to the scrutiny. Haske was also linked to a lavish NNPCL management retreat in Kigali, Rwanda, where five private jets were allegedly chartered to fly top executives to the event.

The financial scale of the case emerged through a series of court-ordered freezes. In August 2025, the EFCC froze a $15 million bank account belonging to Haske after he allegedly breached his bail conditions and left the country.

Investigators say that sum was only part of a larger picture. EFCC sources indicated that more than $56 million was traced to accounts linked to Haske within a three-month period, tied to suspicious financial flows, bulk cash transfers and questionable contracts linked to NNPC EnServe Ltd.

The net widened further in the autumn. On September 22, 2025, a Federal High Court in Abuja, presided over by Justice Musa Liman, ordered Fidelity Bank to freeze an account belonging to Mars Aviation Ltd, a company linked to Haske, as the EFCC broadened its probe into alleged sham oil-sector contracts. The court heard that millions of dollars had been paid to Mars Aviation in instalments by NNPCL, and that the funds needed to be preserved so they could not be moved while the investigation continued. An EFCC investigator told the court in an affidavit that the funds could otherwise be dissipated and frustrate the probe, a submission the judge agreed had merit.

Haske has contested the allegations. In an affidavit, the CEO of Mars Aviation admitted the company had received NNPC contracts worth $46.7 million, but said these were approved between 2018 and 2022, long before Ojulari became NNPCL’s chief executive. Haske explained that Mars Aviation provided private jet and helicopter charter services for executive travel, and said he had supplied 14-seater and 50-seater jets at various times to ferry NNPC’s top executives.

The EFCC has rejected that account. In a response filed before a federal judge, the Commission said preliminary investigations found no evidence that the company ever owned a 14-seater or 50-seater aircraft, and alleged that the contract was awarded to Mars Aviation as a means of siphoning public funds from NNPCL. Haske has separately sued the EFCC over what he describes as unlawful arrest and abuse of his human rights.

Matters escalated on August 21, 2025, when the EFCC formally declared Haske wanted over alleged criminal conspiracy and money laundering. It published his photograph and asked members of the public with information on his whereabouts to contact the nearest police station or any EFCC office nationwide. The notice, signed by EFCC spokesperson Dele Oyewale, described Haske as 38 years old, with his last known addresses listed as No. 6 Mosley Road, Ikoyi, and 952/953 Idejo Street, Victoria Island, both in Lagos.

His legal team challenged the move, arguing it was procedurally improper. His lawyer, Nkemakolam Okoro of the firm of Dr. M.O. Ubani, SAN, said the declaration was premature and procedurally flawed because of a pending application before the Federal High Court in Abuja seeking to review the arrest warrant against Haske. Okoro noted that Haske had previously responded to an EFCC invitation and cooperated with the agency, and had submitted medical documentation over health issues that arose during that engagement. His legal team argued that the court’s issuance of the warrant on August 8 did not, on its own, justify a public wanted declaration without first exhausting the appropriate legal channels.

By the time the wanted notice was issued, Haske was already believed to be outside the country. SaharaReporters learned that he had earlier been questioned and detained by authorities, who seized one of his passports to prevent him from fleeing, only for him to leave using a second passport. A source close to the investigation said the EFCC seized one travel document, after which Haske left the country on another.

His departure has complicated the manhunt. With Haske reportedly outside Nigeria, Interpol indicated it would not act on the EFCC’s alert, stressing that it does not target individuals in politically sensitive cases and would only issue a Red Notice if doing so complied with the organisation’s own rules and constitution.

The case has become entangled with broader questions about NNPCL’s leadership. EFCC documents reviewed by investigators allege that NNPC officials used Haske’s company accounts to launder funds, with Haske posing as a recipient of payment for services rendered to NNPC when the money was, in fact, being moved on the corporation’s behalf. That allegation has fuelled pressure on Ojulari less than five months into his tenure as NNPCL’s chief executive.

Even as the investigation has deepened, public information around the case has receded. As of November 2025, the EFCC’s wanted-persons webpage for Haske had been taken down from the Commission’s official website, returning a “page not found” error, with no public clarification from the agency on the removal.

Months on, Haske remains at large. His network of companies, including AA&R Investment Group and Mars Aviation, remains under the EFCC’s financial scrutiny, with tens of millions of dollars in frozen or contested funds and a paper trail of NNPCL contracts that investigators say tells a very different story from the one his lawyers are presenting in court. Whether he returns to Nigeria to face trial, or whether the case is pursued in his absence through frozen accounts and forfeiture applications, remains an open question, one that continues to reverberate through NNPCL’s leadership and Nigeria’s wider anti-corruption fight.