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Lagos Court Jails Train Driver for Stealing N7 Million from HabariPay Account


A Lagos State Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja has sentenced Christopher Ofielu, a 39-year-old locomotive driver with the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), to one year and six months imprisonment for stealing nearly N7 million belonging to HabariPay Limited.

Justice Rahman Oshodi delivered the verdict on Monday after Ofielu pleaded guilty to a one-count charge of stealing filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

According to the EFCC, Ofielu, in October 2023, exploited a system glitch to fraudulently transfer ₦6,995,944 from HabariPay’s account into his Access Bank account (No. 14864072356). Investigations later revealed that he had created a HabariPay Squad account solely to facilitate the illegal transaction.

A petition from HabariPay Limited, dated September 26, 2023, prompted the EFCC’s investigation, which uncovered that the glitch enabled unauthorised withdrawals totalling over ₦900 million, of which Ofielu received a portion.

During the trial, EFCC witness Adams Adze testified that the fraudulent transfer began with a test transaction of ₦500, before the full ₦6,995,944 was moved into Ofielu’s account. He also revealed that the defendant confessed to being part of a WhatsApp group that coordinated similar illegal transfers.

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

During plea for leniency (allocutus), defence counsel Mercy Akhabue described her client as a first-time offender who had shown genuine remorse and had already begun steps to refund the stolen funds. She added that Access Bank had placed a Post-No-Debit (PND) order on all of Ofielu’s accounts, including his salary account.

In his judgment, Justice Oshodi sentenced the convict to one year and six months imprisonment, effective October 20, 2025, or an alternative fine of ₦1.5 million.

The court further ordered that the ₦6,995,944 be restituted to HabariPay Limited within seven days, with all documentation to be verified by the EFCC.

Justice Oshodi also directed that Ofielu’s biometric data be entered into the Lagos State Offenders’ Database, while ordering the restoration of his Ecobank account after restitution is completed.

“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 ₦6,995,944 to HabariPay Limited from your Access Bank account and pay ₦1.5 million in lieu of imprisonment, subject to full verification of restitution,”
the judge ruled.

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