Justice Rahman Oshodi of the Special Offences Court, Ikeja has sentenced Christopher Ekene Ofielu, a-39-year-old locomotive train driver, with the Nigeria Railway Corporation, to one and half year imprisonment or to pay a fine of N1.5 million naira in lieu of custodial sentence for stealing N6,995,944.
Ofielu was convicted after he pleaded guilty to a-one count charge of stealing brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
The convict sometimes in October 2023 used his HabariPay Squad account created for criminal activity and transferred the sum of N6,995,944 into his Access Bank account 14864072356, property of HabariPay Limited.
Giving a review of fact, the prosecution witness, revealed that the defendant was arrested following a petition submitted by HabariPay Limited, dated 26th September 2023.
He was alleged to have capitalised on a system glitch which led to unauthorised withdrawal to the tune of over N900,000,000 Naira.
The EFCC, Prosecutor Mr. Abubakar Dambuwa told the court that the offence committed is punishable under Section 280 (1) (b) (f) and punishable under Section 287 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015.
According to the prosecution witness, Adams Adze, the defendant received proceeds of crime with the narration, HabariPay Squad.
The amount received was N6,995,944 Naira.
The prosecution witness also drew the court’s attention to an earlier transaction of 500 Naira, with the narration, which, according to him was the first transaction before the principal sum was sent.
The prosecution witness testified that the defendant confessed to being a member of the WhatsApp group.
Train driver plea
However, after his plea of guilt, the trial judge, Justice Oshodi sentenced him to one and half year imprisonment.
The defence counsel Mercy Akhabue pleaded for leniency and urged the court to temper justice with mercy.
Counsel to the defendant informed the court that Ofielu is a first time offender and is remorseful all the while because he had made effort to return the money back into an online bank.
She added that on the premise of the commission of the offence, Access Bank placed a Post No Debit on the convict’s accounts including a salary account and urged the court for a restoration order.
Justice Oshodi consequently sentenced Ofielu to one and a half year imprisonment with an option of fine.
After considerations, Justice Oshodi gave the verdict, “You are sentenced to one year and six months imprisonment from today for the offence of stealing. From today, namely 20th October 2025, for the offence of stealing.
In addition Justice Oshodi ordered, “You shall make restitution of N6,995,944 to be transmitted from your Access bank account. It shall be paid to HabariPay Ltd as restitution.
“All necessary documentation shall be executed within seven days from today. In line with the non-custodial sentence in proxy direction, you pay the fine of N1,500,000 in lieu of the custodial sentence. Subject to the full implementation and verification of the restitution order, the fine shall be paid at the registry of this court.
“I make an order for the restoration of your Ecobank account. Additionally, your biometric shall be registered as an offender in the offender’s database, maintained by the Lagos State judiciary.”
