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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned Gideon Bakpa Aghogho and Oscar Ebere Chukwuebuka before the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, over the alleged unlawful supply of First City Monument Bank access credentials in exchange for $15,000, among other allegations.
The Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 of the EFCC arraigned the defendants before Justice F.N. Ogazi on Wednesday, according to a statement issued by the Commission on Thursday.
The Commission alleges that the offences are contrary to Sections 27 and 28(1)(b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc.) Act, 2015, as amended in 2024.
What they are saying
At the proceedings, the defendants were arraigned alongside one Scott, who is currently at large, on an eight-count charge bordering on the alleged unlawful supply of access credentials to a bank database.
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- One of the counts reads: “That you, GIDEON BAKPA AGHOGHO, OSCAR EBERE CHUKWUEBUKA, along with an individual identified as SCOTT (at large), conspired unlawfully between 24th and 26th July 2026 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, by supplying for use the access code of GIDEON BAKPA AGHOGHO to the FCMB system using the local Administrative Credential (ITSD), which is capable of allowing access to the FCMB Virtual Center Platform, with the intention of committing an offence, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Sections 27 and 28(1)(b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc.) Act, 2015, as amended in 2024, and punishable under Section 28(2) of the same Act.”
Another count accused Aghogho of knowingly and without authority disclosing access credentials, including the bank’s server IP and domain credentials, to gain access to FCMB’s database in exchange for $15,000.
When the court registrar read the charges to the defendants, the first defendant was said to have pleaded not guilty to the charges, while the second defendant pleaded guilty.
Following the first defendant’s plea, EFCC lawyer Bilkisu Buhari asked the court for a date to commence the trial and prayed that he be remanded in a correctional facility.
In respect of the second defendant, the prosecution called for a review of the facts of the case against him following his guilty plea.
Justice Ogazi subsequently adjourned the matter until August 27, 2026, for a review of the facts and other proceedings.
The court also ordered that the defendants be remanded at a correctional centre.
Get up to speed
Nigeria has been identified as both a major target of cyberattacks and a key source of cyber-enabled financial crime in Africa.
This is according to the INTERPOL African Cyberthreat Assessment Report 2026, which highlights the country’s complex position in the continent’s rapidly evolving cyber threat landscape.
- The report found that while Nigerian government agencies and businesses are increasingly being targeted by ransomware attacks, criminal networks operating from the country continue to play a prominent role in business email compromise (BEC) schemes and international money laundering.
- The report highlighted Nigeria as one of Africa’s ransomware hotspots, recording 5,822 detections in 2025.
- INTERPOL warned that cybercriminal groups operating from Nigeria have expanded beyond online fraud into sophisticated international money laundering operations.
Nairametrics previously reported that the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) disclosed that AI-related cybercrime resulted in more than $893 million in reported losses in 2025.
What you should know
In Nigeria, several banks and fintech platforms have witnessed system breaches and internet fraud, leading to the diversion of funds and subsequent litigation.
A staff member of one of the tier-1 banks in Nigeria had in 2025 narrated to the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, how the bank’s former employee allegedly accessed the bank’s server through a private laptop, resulting in a system glitch in customers’ accounts that led to a N5 billion fraud.
