Train Driver Bags Six Months Jail Term For Stealing N6.9M
By Felix Kuyinu
A train driver, Christopher Ofielu, has been found culpable of theft and sentenced to one year and six month imprisonment at a Lagos court.
Ofielu was sentenced by Justice Rahman Oshodi during his trial at the Special Offences Court, Ikeja, where he was said to have stolen the sum of N6,995,944 belonging to one HabariPay Limited.
The 39-year-old convict, a locomotive driver with the Nigerian Railway Corporation, pleaded guilty to a one-count charge of stealing filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, which disclosed at the court that the offender, sometime in October 2023, took advantage of a system glitch to fraudulently transfer N6,995,944 from HabariPay’s account into his Access Bank account (No. 14864072356).
EFCC also stated that investigators discovered that Ofielu had created a HabariPay Squad account specifically to facilitate the fraudulent transaction which was petitioned by HabariPay Limited, dated September 26, 2023, after which a system error was said to have enabled unauthorised withdrawals amounting to over N900 million, out of which the lawbreaker received a portion.
The EFCC witness, Adams Adze, mentioned that the defendant confessed to belonging to a WhatsApp group that coordinated similar illegal transfers.
EFCC prosecutor, Abubakar Dambuwa, told the court that the offence violated Section 280(1)(b)(f) and was punishable under Section 287 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
The defence counsel, Mercy Akhabue, pleaded for leniency, describing Ofielu as a first-time offender who had shown remorse and begun steps to refund the stolen funds.
Akhabue also informed the court that Access Bank had already placed a Post-No-Debit order on all of the defendant’s accounts, including his salary account.
Having listened to the allocutus by the defence counsel, Justice Oshodi ruled told Ofielu, “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 N6,995,944 to HabariPay Limited from your Access Bank account and pay N1.5 million at the court registry in lieu of imprisonment, subject to full verification of restitution.”
The judge placed him on an alternative N1.5 million fine.
