The Benin Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC on Monday, January 12, 2026 handed over the sum of N802,420,000 ( Eight Hundred and Two Million, Four Hundred and Twenty Thousand Naira only) to First Bank Nigeria Plc.
The money was recovered from a suspect, Ojo Eghosa Kingsley who took unlawful possession of over N1.3 billion belonging to the bank.
The bank, in its petition to the EFCC, had alleged that system glitches led it to erroneously credit the account of Kingsley, a customer of the bank with the said amount.
The Commission in its investigation discovered that the suspect, upon the receipt of the money, transferred a good measure of it to the bank accounts of his mother, Itohan Ojo and that of his sister, Edith Okoro Osaretin, and committed part of the money to completion of his building project and the funding of a new flamboyant lifestyle.
With the recovery of the money from the identified bank accounts, the EFCC handed it over in drafts to First Bank.
The Acting Director, Benin Zonal Directorate of the EFCC, Deputy Commander of the EFCC, DCE Sa’ad Hanafi Sa’ad, while handing over the money, stated that the EFCC will continue to discharge its mandate effectively in the overall interests of the society.
“The EFCC Establishment Act empowers us to trace and recover proceeds of crime and restitute the victim.
“In this case, First Bank was the victim and that is exactly what we have done. We will continue to discharge our duties to ensure that fraudsters do not benefit from fraud and that economic and financial crimes are nipped in the bud,” he said.
In his response, Olalere Sunday Ajayi, Business Manager, First Bank, Benin, who received the drafts on behalf of the bank, commended the EFCC for the swiftness and the professionalism it brought to bear in the handling of the matter and expressed the bank’s gratitude to the Commission.
He described the EFCC as one of Nigeria’s most effective and reliable institutions.
Kingsley and all other suspects in the matter have been charged to court for stealing by the EFCC.
In other news, Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court Abuja, today, gave an order returning the case file of the Bauchi Commissioner for Finance, Yakubu Adamu to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho, for reassignment to a substantive judge to handle the matter.
While giving the order for reassignment, Justice Nwite stated that the matter was returned to the Chief Judge because it was a vacation matter which needed to be reassigned to a substantive judge to handle.
Adamu was arraigned by the EFCC, alongside Balarabe Abdullahi Ilelah, Aminu Mohammed Bose and Kabiru Yahaya Mohammed on Wednesday, December 31, 2025 on a ten-count charge bordering on alleged terrorism financing contrary to Section 2(1) and Section 19(1) (d) and punishable under Section 19(2)(b) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.”
One of the counts reads; “That you Yakubu Adamu (being Commissioner for Finance, Bauchi state Government), sometimes in the year 2024, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did receive cash payments in the sum of Six Million, Nine Hundred and Fifty Thousand United States Dollars( USD 6,950,000) otherwise than through a financial institution, and you and offence contrary to Section 2(1) and Section 19(1) (d) and punishable under Section 19(2)(b) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.”
The defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The court had on Monday, 5 January, 2026, turned down the bail application by the defendants and ordered their remand in Kuje Correctional Centre pending trial.
Counsel for the defendants, Chief Chris Uche, SAN, told the court he was ready for commencement of trial.
The EFCC presented a new counsel, Adebayo Ojo, to handle the matter.
Giving the order for reassignment, Justice Nwite stated that the matter was returned to the Chief Judge because it was a vacation matter which needed to be reassigned by the Chief Judge to a substantive judge to handle.
Explaining further, Justice Nwite said that, “I have listened to the submission of the learned senior counsel for the defendants, it is not in doubt that this is a vacation matter which was returned to the registrar after the vacation for onward return to the Chief Judge for reassigning the case substantively”
