A First Bank PLC customer, Ojo Eghosa Kingsley, has opted to go to prison than to refund the sum of N1.5b mistakenly credited into his account.
P.M.EXPRESS reports that the suspect, Kingsley, was arrested by the Benin Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, over his conduct.
Thus, the EFCC charged him before the High Court on Monday 19th January, 2026 and secured his conviction before Justice W. I. Aziegbemhin of Edo State High Court, sitting in Benin City.
The convict, Kingsley, was prosecuted on one-count charge bordering on stealing while being a customer of First Bank and fraudulently took possession of over N1.5 billion erroneously credited to his account by the bank.
The charge against him read: ‘That you OJO EGHOSA KINGSLEY (M) sometime between June, 2025 to 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, and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 387(1) of Criminal Law of Edo State 2022 and punishable under Section 394 of the same Law”.
He pleaded guilty to the charge when it was read to him, prompting the prosecution counsel, M. S. Dahiru, to pray the Court to convict and sentence him accordingly.
