Justice Yellim Bogoro of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Monday, June 16, 2025, convicted and sentenced Solomon Stephen Ufayo, a staff member of Ecobank Plc, to one year in prison for cybercrime.
Ufayo was arraigned on May 16, 2025, by the Lagos Zonal Directorate 2 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a one-count charge of cybercrime involving the sum of N2,404,000 (Two Million Four Hundred and Four Thousand Naira).
The charge read: “That you, Solomon Stephen Ufayo, between the 10th and 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, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 22(2)(b)(i) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015 and punishable under Section 22(2)(b) of the same Act.”
Ufayo pleaded guilty to the charge.
Following his plea, prosecution counsel Abdulhamid L. Tukur called EFCC operative David Ngale Gajere to present the facts of the case. Gajere told the court that the defendant, while working as a Relief Teller, impersonated Miss Omowunmi Ajoke, an Ecobank customer, and made false deposit entries into her account. He then used withdrawal slips to transfer the total amount of N2,404,000 to his personal Opay account, all without the customer’s knowledge or consent.
Gajere also informed the court that Ufayo made a voluntary confession in an extra-judicial statement and had issued a bank draft of N2,404,000 as restitution to the petitioner.
At the resumed hearing on Monday, the defendant pleaded for leniency, explaining that financial pressure from his wife’s pregnancy drove him to commit the offence. “I was still in custody when my wife delivered the baby. I have learnt my lessons,” he told the court.
Justice Bogoro subsequently sentenced him to one year imprisonment, with an option of a N500,000 (Five Hundred Thousand Naira) fine. In addition, the convict was ordered to serve two weeks of community service.
The conviction stemmed from his fraudulent actions as a Relief Teller, during which he impersonated a bank customer, posted false deposits, and transferred N2,404,000 into his personal account.
