A customer of First Bank Plc, Ojo Eghosa Kingsley, has been convicted and sentenced to prison for refusing to refund ₦1.5 billion mistakenly credited to his bank account.
Kingsley was arrested by the Benin Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) following investigations into the erroneous transfer. He was arraigned on Monday, January 19, 2026, before the Edo State High Court sitting in Benin City.
The EFCC prosecuted him on a one-count charge of stealing, alleging that he fraudulently converted the sum of ₦1,507,502,182.24, belonging to First Bank Plc, to his personal use between June and November 2025. The offence is contrary to Section 387(1) of the Criminal Law of Edo State, 2022, and punishable under Section 394 of the same law.
Kingsley pleaded guilty when the charge was read, prompting the prosecution counsel, M.S. Dahiru, to urge the court to convict and sentence him accordingly. His defence counsel, however, appealed for leniency, describing the defendant as remorseful.
In his judgment, Justice W.I. Aziegbemhin convicted Kingsley and sentenced him to one year imprisonment, with an option of a ₦5 million fine. The court also ordered him to restitute First Bank Plc with ₦272,252,193.59, being the outstanding balance from the ₦1.5 billion, within a stipulated period.
During the investigation, the EFCC recovered ₦802.42 million from bank accounts linked to Kingsley, his mother and sister. The recovered funds were handed over to First Bank Plc on January 12, 2026, by the Acting Zonal Director of the Benin Zonal Directorate, Deputy Commander of the EFCC, DCE Sa’ad Hanafi Sa’ad. An additional sum of over ₦300 million was also retrieved from Kingsley’s account through transfer reversal by the bank.
As part of the judgment, Kingsley signed a written undertaking to be of good behaviour in the future, subject to fulfilling the restitution conditions and gaining release from prison custody.
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