Justice Rahman Oshodi of the Lagos State Special Offences Court, Ikeja, on Monday sentenced a 39-year-old locomotive driver with the Nigerian Railway Corporation, Christopher Ofielu, to one year and six months imprisonment or, alternatively, a N1.5 million fine for stealing N6,995,944 belonging to HabariPay Limited.

Ofielu was convicted after pleading guilty to a one-count charge of stealing filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

According to the EFCC, the convict, in October 2023, took advantage of a system glitch to fraudulently transfer N6,995,944 from HabariPay’s account into his Access Bank account (No. 14864072356).

Investigators later discovered that Ofielu had created a HabariPay Squad account specifically to facilitate the fraudulent transaction.

A petition from HabariPay Limited, dated September 26, 2023, prompted the EFCC’s investigation, which uncovered that the system error had enabled unauthorised withdrawals amounting to over N900 million, out of which Ofielu received a portion.

During trial, EFCC witness Adams Adze testified that the transaction, marked “HabariPay Squad,” was credited to Ofielu’s account, noting that it began with an initial N500 transfer before the full N6,995,944 was moved.

He also revealed that the defendant confessed to belonging to a WhatsApp group that coordinated similar illegal transfers.

The EFCC prosecutor, Abubakar Dambuwa, told the court that the offence violated Section 280(1)(b)(f) and was punishable under Section 287 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

During allocutus, defence counsel Mercy Akhabue pleaded for leniency, describing Ofielu as a first-time offender who had shown remorse and begun steps to refund the stolen funds. She also informed the court that Access Bank had already placed a Post-No-Debit order on all of the defendant’s accounts, including his salary account.

In his judgment, Justice Oshodi sentenced Ofielu to one year and six months imprisonment, effective October 20, 2025, or a N1.5 million fine in lieu of the jail term.

He also ordered that the N6,995,944 be restituted to HabariPay Limited from the defendant’s Access Bank account within seven days, directing that all documentation for restitution be completed and verified by the EFCC.

The judge ordered the restoration of the defendant’s Ecobank account and directed that his biometric data be entered into the Lagos State Offenders’ Database.

Justice Oshodi ruled: “You are hereby sentenced to one year and six months imprisonment from today, October 20, 2025, for the offence of stealing.

“You shall make restitution of N6,995,944 to HabariPay Limited from your Access Bank account and pay N1.5 million at the court registry in lieu of imprisonment, subject to full verification of restitution.”