Court jails man one year for fraud in Lagos

Nkereuwem Effiong

Justice O. A. Okunuga of the Lagos State High Court, sitting in Ikeja, has convicted and sentenced one Abubakar Sani to jail for fraud.

He was arraigned by the Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on April 30, 2025, on one count bordering on stealing.

The charge read: “That you, Abubakar Sani sometime in July, 2024, at Lagos within the Ikeja jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, had in your possession N16, 684,018,08 (Sixteen Million, Six Hundred and Eighty Four Thousand, Eighteen Naira, eight kobo) monies reasonably suspected to have been stolen from Lotus Bank and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 329 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.”

Head, Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, in a statement on Friday, said the suspect pleaded “guilty” to the charge, following which prosecution counsel Fanen Anum reviewed the facts of the case to further prove his guilt.

Anum told the court that Sani was arrested by the Commission following a petition received from Lotus Bank in July, 2024, alleging some fraudulent activities from 718 of its customers who took undue advantage of malfunction of the bank’s e-bill payment platform to make fraudulent and illegal transfers.

The Commission’s investigation showed that Sani, among others, took possession of N16,684,018.08 as a result of the glitch through multiple transfers to his other accounts and those of his brother.

Sani, he disclosed, was trailed and arrested, adding that he confessed to committing the crime and volunteered his statement under caution.

The prosecution tendered Sani’s voluntary statement as well as other incriminating evidence that was recovered from him, which was admitted in evidence against him.

Justice Okunuga sentenced him to one year imprisonment or to pay one million naira fine. In addition, the court ordered the forfeiture of the sum of N1,099,485.18 traced to his Keystone Bank account number 6038086328 as well as the sum of N4,182,406.54 traced from his account to that of his older brother, Usman Sani in Access Bank.