Justice Yelim Bogoro of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Monday, March 9, 2026, ordered the final forfeiture of the sum of ₦81,108,143.08 (Eighty-one million, one hundred and eight thousand, one hundred and forty-three naira, eight kobo) to the Federal Government of Nigeria in favour of Sterling Bank Plc.
The judge gave the order following a motion on notice filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) through its counsel, Hannatu U. KofarNaisa.
The court had, on October 2, 2025, granted an interim forfeiture order on the funds and also directed the publication of the order in a national newspaper for any interested party to show cause why the money should not be finally forfeited to the Federal Government.
The money was part of the over ₦2,500,000,000 (Two billion, five hundred million naira) stolen by some customers of Sterling Bank and transferred for their personal use as well as to third-party beneficiaries due to a system glitch experienced by the bank.
Upon receipt of a petition from the bank on July 18, 2022, the Commission commenced investigations which led to the identification and tracing of the stolen funds to various accounts, including that of a customer, Sulaiman Kehinde Ojora, who was one of the major beneficiaries of the fraud.
Investigations further revealed that Ojora fraudulently concealed the sum of ₦43,000,000 in the account of his friend, Taiwo Oluwaseyi Alawode (Account No. 1233126860), domiciled in Access Bank, and the sum of ₦122,200,009 in the account of his wife, Aminat Olatanwa Ojora (Account No. 0072889319), domiciled in Sterling Bank.
Moving the motion for the final forfeiture order on Monday, counsel to the EFCC, H. U. KofarNaisa, stated that the application was supported by an affidavit deposed to by Maina Gapani Gyal, an investigator with the EFCC.
In the affidavit, Gyal stated that he was one of the operatives of the Commission assigned to investigate the petition received from the bank on July 18, 2022, regarding the alleged fraud.
He stated:
“That over ₦2,500,000,000 (Two billion, five hundred million naira) was stolen by some customers of the bank and converted to their personal use as well as to the use of third-party beneficiaries.
“The fraud and unauthorized transfer of funds occurred due to a system glitch in the bank, which enabled customers to exploit the system and steal the funds.”
He added that the glitch allowed customers to use the PAYATTITUDE Global Ltd banking platform (an e-wallet and payment scheme subscribed to by Sterling Bank Plc) to illegally transfer funds even when their Sterling Bank accounts were not funded.
According to him, the petitioner alleged that the bank was unable to recover the total sum of ₦295,916,201.02 (Two hundred and ninety-five million, nine hundred and sixteen thousand, two hundred and one naira, two kobo) from the fraud, as the funds had been withdrawn and converted by the bank’s customers.
He further stated that the funds were fraudulently concealed in Account No. 1233126860 belonging to Taiwo Oluwaseyi Alawode, domiciled in Access Bank Plc, and Account No. 0072889319 belonging to Aminat Olatanwa Ojora, domiciled in Sterling Bank Plc.
Gyal added that the bank was able to salvage the total sum of ₦81,108,143.08, which is now being sought for final forfeiture, as well as ₦490,349,000 (Four hundred and ninety million, three hundred and forty-nine thousand naira) from the bank’s internal ledger.
KofarNaisa therefore told the court that the money was reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities.
She also informed the court that the Commission had published the interim forfeiture order in The Punch newspaper of February 19, 2026, inviting any interested party to show cause why the final forfeiture order should not be made in favour of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Justice Bogoro, after listening to the EFCC counsel’s submissions, held:
“Having gone through the motion and attachments, I find the application meritorious and the same is accordingly granted.”
Consequently, the judge ordered the final forfeiture of the money to the Federal Government of Nigeria in favour of Sterling Bank Plc.
