Court Jails Ex-bank Worker 3 Years For N8bn Fraud

Justice Rahman Oshodi of the Lagos State Special Offences Court in Ikeja on Wednesday, convicted and sentenced a former financial and retail product manager with Wema Bank Nigeria Plc, Samuel Asiegbu, to three years in prison for hacking and stealing N8.56 billion from the bank vault.

Justice Oshodi jailed Asiegbu, without the option of a fine, after pleading guilty to the eight-count charge of conspiracy, fraud and unauthorised access to a computer system.

The convict was accused by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alongside Hamza Zakaria, Nurudeen Ibrahim and Alhaji Sulaiman of manipulating the bank’s internal systems in January 2025 to cause a financial loss of over N8.5 billion.

The anti-graft agency informed the court on June 23, 2025, when the defendants were first arraigned, that the offences violate Sections 409 and 386 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

All the defendants had initially pleaded not guilty to the charge.

However, Asiegbu later changed his plea to guilty, leading to his conviction and sentencing.

Justice Oshodi sentenced the convict to 10 months and 8 days in prison for count three and 1 year and 8 months for count four, both sentences are to run concurrently and without an option of a fine.

The court subsequently struck out counts one and two.

The judge has fixed November 14 for the commencement of the trial of the remaining defendants.