Ecobank official jailed for withdrawing N2.4m from customer’s account in Lagos

The Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos State, on Monday, June 16, 2025, convicted and sentenced a staff of Ecobank Plc, Solomon Stephen Ufayo, to one-year imprisonment for cybercrime.

The convict was arraigned on May 16 by the Lagos Zonal Directorate 2 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a one-count charge bordering on cybercrime to the tune of N2,404,000.

The charge read: “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.”

The banker pleaded “guilty” to the charge when it was read to him.

Following his “guilty” plea, the prosecution counsel, Abdulhamid Tukur, called an operative of the EFCC, David Gajere, to review the facts of the case.

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Gajere told the court that Ufayo, who is a Relief Teller with Econank, fraudulently represented himself as one Omowunmi Ajoke, a customer of the bank, by posting false deposits into her bank 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 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 banker prayed the court for leniency, stating that he was tempted to perpetrate the fraud because his wife was pregnant and that he needed money.

The presiding judge, Justice Yellim Bogoro, convicted and sentenced the banker to one year imprisonment, with an option of fine in the sum of N500,000.

The judge also ordered the convict to serve a two-week community service.

The Star