The Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has fixed June 20, 2025, for the trial of three staff members of Wema Bank Plc and four others accused of hacking into the bank’s system and illegally siphoning a staggering sum of ₦8,568,090,500.
The trial, which was initially scheduled to commence on June 6, could not proceed due to the public holiday declared for the Eid-el-Kabir celebration.
The presiding judge, Justice Daniel Osiagor, subsequently adjourned the matter to a new date.
The defendants include three employees of Wema Bank: Samuel Asiegbu, Fabian Onyeimachi, and Kingsley Kejim.
The four other alleged conspirators are Hannah Okunlola Adesokan, Hamza Zakariya, Achionu Ubaku, and Sunday Osademe.
They were arraigned on May 25, 2025, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on an eight-count charge bordering on conspiracy, cybercrime, and obtaining money under false pretences.
EFCC’s prosecutor, Aso Larry Peters, alleged that the accused persons, in January 2025, tampered with the bank’s database and manipulated its computer systems to fraudulently divert the massive sum.
The alleged crime was said to have been committed in connivance with two other suspects, Nurudeen Ibrahim and Alhaji Sulaiman, both currently at large.
Peters explained that Zakariya and Onyeimachi collaborated with Achionu Chukwuka Ubaku, Samuel Ibechukwu Asiegbu, and Alhaji Ibrahim (also at large) to carry out the cyber-attack using unauthorised access to the bank’s computer and network systems.
Further, the prosecution disclosed that the only female defendant, Adesokan Hannah Okunlola, and her co-accused, Sunday Osademe, allegedly allowed their bank accounts to be used to receive and retain parts of the stolen funds.
Okunlola reportedly held ₦199 million in a United Bank for Africa (UBA) account registered as Search Light Media Concept, while Osademe retained ₦2.25 million in a Union Bank account.
The EFCC stated that the offences violated multiple sections of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015, including Sections 6(2), 8, 14(1), 14(5), and 27(1)(a), and were also contrary to Section 17(a)(b) of the EFCC Establishment Act, 2004.
Each of the accused pleaded not guilty to the charges when they were read in court.
In response, the EFCC’s lawyer requested that the defendants be remanded in custody pending trial.
Justice Osiagor ordered that five of the accused be remanded in the Nigerian Correctional Service facilities.
However, Kingsley Ejim Kelechi was allowed to remain on his existing bail, while Hannah Okunlola was ordered to be held in EFCC custody.
One of the charges reads: “That you, Samuel Ihechukwu Asiegbu, Ejim Kingsley Kelechi and other persons at large, sometime in January 2025, conspired among yourselves to cause loss of property to bank accounts domiciled in Wema Bank Nigeria Plc to confer economic benefit to yourselves, and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 27(1)(a) of the Cybercrimes Act.”
Another charge states: “That you, Samuel Ihechukwu Asiegbu and other persons at large, sometime in January 2025, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court knowingly and without authority caused the loss of an aggregate sum of ₦8,568,090,500, property of Wema Bank Plc., by altering, erasing and inputting data held in accounts domiciled in Wema Bank Plc’s computer to confer economic benefit on yourself, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 14(1) of the Cybercrimes Act.”
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