The Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, has sentenced a staff of Ecobank Plc, Solomon Stephen Ufayo, to one year in prison for cybercrime involving the sum of N2,404,000.
Justice Yellim Bogoro delivered the verdict on Monday, June 16, 2025, after Ufayo pleaded guilty to a one-count charge filed against him by the Lagos Zonal Directorate 2 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The EFCC had arraigned Ufayo on May 16, 2025, for fraudulently manipulating bank transactions while serving as a Relief Teller at Ecobank.
According to the anti-graft agency, he impersonated a customer of the bank, Miss Omowunmi Ajoke, by posting false deposits into her account.
He then used withdrawal deposit slips —without her consent — to transfer a total of N2,404,000 into his personal Opay account.
The court convicted him based on his plea of guilt and the evidence presented by the EFCC.
The EFCC confirmed the development in a statement released Monday evening.
The charge reads: “That you, Solomon Stephen Ufayo, between the 10th to the 28th day of March, 2025, in Lagos within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, while working for Ecobank Nigeria Limited as a Relief Teller, fraudulently represented yourself as Ogunfodunrin Omowunmi Ajoke, by posting false Deposit and Withdrawal Tellers on her Ecobank account number 2801086259 with intent to gain advantage for yourself and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 22(2)(b)(i) of the CYBERCRIME (PROHIBITION, PREVENTION etc)Act, 2015 and punishable by Section 22(2)(b) of the same Act.”
Following his “guilty” plea, the prosecution counsel, Abdulhamid L.Tukur, called on David Ngale Gajere, an operative of the EFCC, to review the facts of the case.
Gajere, in his review of the fact, told the court that Ufayo, who is a Relief Teller with the Bank, fraudulently represented himself as one Miss Omowunmi Ajoke, a customer of the Bank, by posting false deposits into her Ecobank account and moving the total sum of N2, 404,000, which he filled out in withdrawal deposit slips without her consent and paid the same into his own Opay account.
He had further informed the court that the defendant provided an extra-judicial statement and also issued a bank draft for N2,404,000 as restitution to the petitioner.
At the resumed sitting on Monday, the defendant prayed the court for leniency, stating that he was tempted to perpetrate the fraud because his wife was pregnant and that he needed money.
“I was still in custody when my wife delivered the baby. I have learnt my mistakes now”, he further pleaded with the court.
Meanwhile, Justice Bogoro consequently convicted and sentenced him to one year imprisonment, with an option of fine in the sum of N500,000 (Five Hundred Thousand Naira).
The convict was also ordered to serve a two-week community service.
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