₦2.7bn Fraud: Court Jails Ex-Banker 39 Years

A Lagos court has sentenced former banker Christopher Jackson Edeh to a total of 39 years’ imprisonment over a ₦2.7 billion fraud involving the alleged alteration of bank account details belonging to customers and government-related entities.

Justice O.O. Abike-Fadipe of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja delivered the judgment on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, after finding Edeh guilty on nine counts bordering on fraudulent false accounting and unauthorised access to a computer system.

The case was prosecuted by the Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Edeh was arraigned on February 28, 2024.

According to the charges, he altered account details belonging to several customers and organisations with the intention of defrauding them. The affected accounts included those of the Kano State Government Power Intervention Fund, NNPC Trading Limited, Stallion Vision Limited, the Lagos State Government Blue Line project, the State Contributory Pension Account and Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University.

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During the trial, prosecution counsel Z.B. Atiku called three witnesses and tendered documentary evidence to establish the case. The defence called one witness.

In her judgment, Justice Abike-Fadipe held that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt and convicted Edeh on all nine counts.

The court sentenced him to five years’ imprisonment without an option of fine on each of the first seven counts relating to fraudulent false accounting. He also received two years’ imprisonment without an option of fine on each of the remaining two counts involving unauthorised access to a computer system to facilitate criminal activity.

Although the individual sentences add up to 39 years, the judge ordered that they run concurrently, meaning Edeh will serve the terms at the same time rather than one after another. Consequently, the effective prison term is five years.

The conviction followed an EFCC investigation into the alleged manipulation of account details and transactions involving the affected customers and institutions.