In a high-stakes digital fraud case, a federal court in Kaduna has sentenced seven individuals to prison for exploiting a system glitch at TAJBank, resulting in the theft of over ₦1 billion via the bank’s agency banking platform.
The convicts; Abdulrasheed Dayyabu, Abdulrahman Salim, Abubakar Ali Uba, Ishaq Haruna, Muhammad Faisal, Muhammad Sani Ahmed, and Hassan Umar, pled guilty to charges including impersonation, unauthorized transfers, money laundering, and retention of illicit proceeds.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) secured their convictions following TAJBank’s petition, according to PM News Nigeria.
During court proceedings led by Justice R.M. Aikawa of the Federal High Court, the perpetrators admitted manipulating a software vulnerability in TAJBank’s internal system to divert funds into various fintech and banking platforms.
One additional suspect, Falalu Tanko, was separately charged for handling proceeds from criminal activity equivalent to USD 3,000.
Sentences varied by individual:
Dayyabu, among others, received four years in prison or a fine of ₦100,000. In addition, ₦300,000, the proceeds from criminal conduct, was forfeited to the federal government.
Dayyabu, Uba, Salim, Haruna, Faisal, Ahmed and Umar were arrested following a petition from TajBank, Dele Oyewale, the spokesperson for EFCC said in a statement on Friday.
They were arraigned by EFCC before Justice R.M.Aikawa of the Federal High Court, sitting in Kaduna alongside one Falalu Tanko who was arrested in Babar Saura area of Kaduna State, following credible intelligence that exposed his fraudulent internet activities.
The charge against Dayyabu reads: ” That you, Abudulrasheed Dayyabu, sometime in the year 2024, at Kaduna, within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court of Nigeria, did aid one Buhari to commit an offence, to wit: retention of proceeds of criminal conduct and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 21(a) of the Money Laundering (Prevention & Prohibition) Act, 2022 and punishable under Section 20(b) of the same Act.”
The charge against Tanko reads: “That you Falalu Tanko, sometime in June, 2025 in Kaduna within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court retained the total sum of $3000.00 USD (Three Thousand United States Dollars) which you knew that such fund forms part of proceeds of an unlawful act and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18(2) (d) of the Money Laundering (Prevention $ Prohibition) Act, 2022 and Punishable under Section 18(3) of the same Act.”
They all pleaded “guilty” to their charges, following which prosecution counsel, Fortune Amina Iminabo Asemebo prayed the court to convict and sentence them accordingly.
Justice Aikawa convicted and sentenced Dayyabu to four years imprisonment or to pay N100,000.00 (One Hundred Thousand Naira) fine. In addition, he forfeited the sum of N300,000. (Three Hundred Thousand Naira), being the proceeds of his crime to the federal government.
He convicted and sentenced Uba, Salim, Haruna, Faisal, Ahmed and Umar to four years imprisonment, each or to pay the sum of N200,000 (Two Hundred Thousand Naira) fine, respectively.
In addition, Uba forfeited N500,000 (Five Hundred Thousand Naira), Salim forfeited N720,000 (Seven Hundred and Twenty Thousand Naira), Haruna forfeited N200,000 (Two Hundred Thousand Naira), Faisal forfeited N1,100,000 (One Million, One Hundred Thousand Naira), Ahmed forfeit N1,200,000 (One Million Two Hundred Thousand Naira) and Umar forfeited N170,000 (One Hundred and Seventy Thousand Naira). All the forfeitures, being the proceeds of their crimes, are to the federal government.
The judge convicted and sentenced Tanko to three years imprisonment or to pay N300,000 (Three Hundred Thousand Naira) fine. In addition, he forfeited his BMW car 3 series, 2008 model and his iPhone 13pro, being the proceeds and tools of his crime to the federal government.
The conviction of these tech-savvy perpetrators exposes a critical gap in Nigeria’s fintech regulation, highlighting the urgent need for robust audit trails, anomaly detection, and governance standards.
As digital finance accelerates, every fintech actor, banks, neobanks, regulators, and platform developers, must recognize that system trust is now as important as innovation itself.
