Tuesday, October 21, 2025 -Justice Rahman Oshodi of the Lagos State Special Offences Court, Ikeja, on Monday sentenced a 39-year-old locomotive driver with the Nigerian Railway Corporation, Christopher Ofielu, to one year and six months imprisonment or, alternatively, a N1.5 million fine for stealing N6,995,944 belonging to HabariPay Limited.
Ofielu was convicted after pleading guilty to a one-count
charge of stealing filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission, EFCC.
According to the EFCC, the convict, in October 2023, took
advantage of a system glitch to fraudulently transfer N6,995,944 from
HabariPay’s account into his Access Bank account (No. 14864072356).
Investigators later discovered that Ofielu had created a
HabariPay Squad account specifically to facilitate the fraudulent transaction.
A petition from HabariPay Limited, dated September 26, 2023,
prompted the EFCC’s investigation, which uncovered that the system error had
enabled unauthorised withdrawals amounting to over N900 million, out of which
Ofielu received a portion.
During trial, EFCC witness Adams Adze testified that the
transaction, marked “HabariPay Squad,” was credited to Ofielu’s account, noting
that it began with an initial N500 transfer before the full N6,995,944 was
moved.
He also revealed that the defendant confessed to belonging
to a WhatsApp group that coordinated similar illegal transfers.
The EFCC prosecutor, Abubakar Dambuwa, told the court that
the offence violated Section 280(1)(b)(f) and was punishable under Section 287
of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
During allocutus, defence counsel Mercy Akhabue pleaded for
leniency, describing Ofielu as a first-time offender who had shown remorse and
begun steps to refund the stolen funds. She also informed the court that Access
Bank had already placed a Post-No-Debit order on all of the defendant’s
accounts, including his salary account.
In his judgment, Justice Oshodi sentenced Ofielu to one year and six
months imprisonment, effective October 20, 2025, or a N1.5 million fine in lieu
of the jail term.
He also ordered that the N6,995,944 be restituted to HabariPay Limited
from the defendant’s Access Bank account within seven days, directing that all
documentation for restitution be completed and verified by the EFCC.
The judge ordered the restoration of the defendant’s Ecobank account and
directed that his biometric data be entered into the Lagos State Offenders’
Database.
Justice Oshodi ruled: “You are hereby sentenced to one year and six months
imprisonment from today, October 20, 2025, for the offence of stealing.
“You shall make restitution of N6,995,944 to HabariPay Limited from your
Access Bank account and pay N1.5 million at the court registry in lieu of
imprisonment, subject to full verification of restitution.”
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