RismadarVoice Reporters
January 19, 2026
The Benin Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Monday, January 19, 2026, secured the conviction and sentence of Ojo Eghosa Kingsley before Justice W. I. Aziegbemhin of the Edo State High Court, sitting in Benin City.
Kingsley was prosecuted by the Benin Zonal Directorate of the EFCC on a one-count charge bordering on stealing. The convict, while a customer of First Bank Plc, fraudulently took possession of over N1.5 billion that was erroneously credited to his bank account.
The charge reads:
“That you, OJO EGHOSA KINGSLEY (M), sometime between June 2025 and November 2025, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did steal the aggregate sum of N1,507,502,182.24 (One Billion, Five Hundred and Seven Million, Five Hundred and Two Thousand, One Hundred and Eighty-Two Naira, Twenty-Four Kobo), property of First Bank Plc, by fraudulently converting the said sum to your own use, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 387(1) of the Criminal Code Law of Edo State, 2022, and punishable under Section 394 of the same Law.”
The defendant pleaded guilty when the charge was read to him, prompting the prosecution counsel, M. S. Dahiru, to urge the court to convict and sentence him accordingly.
Counsel to the defendant, however, pleaded for leniency, stating that the defendant had shown remorse over his actions.
Justice Aziegbemhin thereafter convicted and sentenced Kingsley to one year imprisonment, with an poption of a N5 million fine.
The court further ordered the convict to restitute First Bank Plc with the sum of N272,252,193.59 (Two Hundred and Seventy-Two Million, Two Hundred and Fifty-Two Thousand, One Hundred and Ninety-Three Naira, Fifty-Nine Kobo), being the outstanding balance of the stolen funds, within a stipulated period.
During investigations, the EFCC recovered the sum of N802,420,000 from various bank accounts traced to the defendant, his mother, and his sister. The recovered funds were handed over to the bank by the Acting Zonal Director of the Benin Zonal Directorate, Deputy Commander of the EFCC (DCE) Sa’ad Hanafi Sa’ad, on Monday, January 12, 2026. Additionally, over N300 million was recovered by the bank from the defendant’s account through transfer reversals.
Aside from the conviction, sentence, and restitution order, the defendant also undertook in writing to be of good behaviour going forward.
