Man jailed three years for defrauding Wema Bank N8.56bn

Court

Justice Rahman Oshodi of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, on Wednesday, convicted and sentenced one Samuel Asiegbu to three years’ imprisonment without an option of fine for his role in an N8.56bn fraud carried out at Wema Bank Nigeria Plc.

Asiegbu was arraigned alongside Hamza Zakaria, Nurudeen Ibrahim, and Alhaji Sulaiman (now at large) on four counts bordering on conspiracy, stealing, and unauthorised access to a computer system, preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

The defendants were first arraigned on June 23, 2025, and had initially pleaded not guilty.

However, Asiegbu later changed his plea to guilty, leading to his conviction and sentencing, while the trial continues for the other defendants.

The EFCC told the court that Asiegbu, Hamza Zakaria, Nurudeen Ibrahim, Alhaji Sulaiman (at large), and others at large, sometime in January 2025, conspired amongst themselves without authorisation and accessed the computer systems of Wema Bank Nigeria Plc to steal money.

The prosecution counsel also told the court that the convicts, Hamza Zakaria, Nurudeen Ibrahim, Alhaji Sulaiman (at large), and others at large, sometime in January 2025, had unauthorised access to the Wema Bank computer and server with the intent to facilitate the stealing of an aggregate sum of N8,568,090,500 from accounts domiciled at Wema Bank Nigeria Plc.

According to the prosecution counsel, the offences committed contravened Sections 409 and 386 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

In his judgment, Justice Oshodi sentenced Asiegbu to 10 months and eight days’ imprisonment on count three and 1 year and 8 months on count four, both without an option of fine.

The judge held that the sentences are to run concurrently, bringing his total jail term to three years.