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By Lizzy Chirkpi
The Edo State High Court sitting in Benin City has convicted and sentenced Ojo Eghosa Kingsley to one year imprisonment or an option of ₦5 million fine for fraudulently converting over ₦1.5 billion belonging to First Bank Plc.
Kingsley was convicted on Monday, January 19, 2026, by Justice W. I. Aziegbemhin following his prosecution by the Benin Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
According to Mr
Oyewale, Head, Media and Publicity, EFCC, the convict, while operating as a customer of First Bank Plc, took advantage of an erroneous credit into his account and unlawfully converted the funds for personal use. The offence was said to have been committed between June and November 2025.
Kingsley was arraigned on a one-count charge bordering on stealing. The charge read in part:
“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 ₦1,507,502,182.24 (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 the Criminal Code Law of Edo State, 2022 and punishable under Section 394 of the same Law.”
The defendant pleaded guilty when the charge was read to him. Following the plea, the prosecution counsel, M. S. Dahiru, urged the court to convict and sentence him accordingly. Defence counsel, however, appealed to the court to temper justice with mercy, noting that the defendant was remorseful.
In his judgment, Justice Aziegbemhin convicted Kingsley and sentenced him to one year imprisonment with an option of a ₦5 million fine.
The court further ordered the convict to restitute First Bank Plc with the sum of ₦272,252,193.59, described as the outstanding balance from the ₦1.5 billion fraud, within a stipulated period.
The EFCC disclosed that during investigations, it recovered ₦802,420,000 from various bank accounts linked to the defendant, his mother, and his sister. The recovered sum was formally handed over to First Bank Plc on Monday, January 12, 2026, by the Acting Zonal Director of the Benin Zonal Directorate, Deputy Commander of the EFCC, DCE Sa’ad Hanafi Sa’ad. The Commission also revealed that over ₦300 million was earlier recovered by the bank through transfer reversals from the defendant’s account.
In addition to the conviction, sentence, and restitution order, Kingsley undertook in writing to be of good behaviour going forward