In what appears to be another major step in Nigeria’s ongoing crackdown on financial crimes, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Lagos Zonal Directorate 1, on Friday, May 23, 2025, arraigned three bank employees and four of their alleged accomplices before the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos. The suspects are being prosecuted over their alleged involvement in a bank fraud scheme amounting to over N8.5 billion.
The bankers—Samuel Ihechukwu Asiegbu, Fabian Chizaram Onyeimachi, and Kingsley Kelechi Ejim—who are employees of a prominent first-generation bank, were docked alongside Hannah Okunlola Adesokan, Hamza Zakariya, Achionu Chukwuka Ubaku, and Sunday Osademe. They face an eight-count charge bordering on conspiracy, cyber-enabled fraud, and obtaining by false pretence.
According to the charges read in court, the defendants, along with others still at large, allegedly conspired in January 2025 to compromise bank systems and manipulate data from accounts domiciled in Wema Bank Nigeria Plc. One of the counts detailed how they caused the loss of N8,568,090,500 by unlawfully altering, erasing, and inputting data into the bank’s computer system to unlawfully enrich themselves—an offence said to violate Sections 14 and 27 of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act of 2015.
When the charges were read, all seven defendants pleaded not guilty. Prosecuting counsel, Aso Larrys Peters, requested that the court fix a date for trial and that the accused persons be remanded in a correctional facility pending the outcome of the case.
However, defence counsel sought a special arrangement for his client, Hannah Okunlola, citing health concerns. He urged the court to allow her remain in EFCC custody where her medical condition could be properly managed.
Presiding judge, Justice Daniel Osiagor, subsequently adjourned the matter to June 6, 2025, for trial. He ordered that five of the defendants be remanded in the custody of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS), while Kingsley Ejim Kelechi was permitted to continue on his existing bail terms. Okunlola, on health grounds, was remanded in the custody of the EFCC.
EFCC has been intensifying efforts to dismantle cybercrime networks operating within Nigeria’s financial institutions, particularly where insider collaboration is suspected. This case is being closely watched by legal observers and the banking sector alike, given its scale and implications for cybersecurity and institutional integrity.
