Justice Rahman Oshodi of the Special Offences Court, Ikeja has sentenced an ex-convict, to three years’ imprisonment for theft of N12m on Tuesday.
The verdict was delivered after the court found Adekola guilty of the charge.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Ikoyi, had arraigned the defendant on March 16, 2026, on a one-count amended charge bordering on stealing.
According to the charge, Oluokun Gabriel Adekola, alongside accomplices still at large, conspired in 2025 to conceal and disguise the origin of N12,000,000 paid into his account.
The prosecution said the amount formed part of a larger sum of N3,091,441,849 fraudulently obtained from accounts domiciled with First City Monument Bank through unauthorised access and mobile banking fraud.
Subsequently, the funds were withdrawn and converted to cash through Point of Sale agents.
Adekola pleaded guilty to the charge upon his arraignment.
Further proceedings revealed that the convict had a prior court record.
On July 23, 2020, Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court, Ibadan, Oyo State, sentenced him to 20 years’ imprisonment for defrauding a Taiwanese national of $22,300.
During the court process, the counsel to the prosecution, E. S. Okongwu tendered a Certified True Copy of the July 23, 2020 judgement, marked as Exhibit 1, with suit number FHC/IB/32C/2018.
The prosecution also urged the court to order restitution of N3.5m to the nominal complainant.
In his allocutus, the defendant’s counsel, Fabian Nwaforji, pleaded for leniency, noting that the convict was remorseful and had already spent four years and six months in custody.
He asked the court to temper justice with mercy.
In his verdict, Justice Oshodi held that the offence bordered on money laundering and described the defendant as a repeat offender.
The judge, however, took into account the convict’s guilty plea and expressed willingness to make restitution.
The court ssentenced him to three years’ imprisonment and ordered him to restitute N3.5m to FCMB, within three months.
