Fidelia Soriwei, Abuja
A former banker, Christopher Jackson Edeh, has been sentenced to a total of 39 years’ imprisonment over a N2.7 billion fraud case by the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) disclosed this in a statement issued on Tuesday by its Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale.
Justice O.O. Abike-Fadipe delivered the judgment on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, convicting Edeh on nine counts bordering on fraudulent false accounting and unauthorised access to a computer system.
The charges involved the alteration of bank account details belonging to customers and government-related entities, including the Kano State Government Power Intervention Fund, NNPC Trading Limited, Stallion Vision Ltd, the Lagos State Government Blue Line, the State Contributory Pension Account and Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University.
Edeh was arraigned on February 28, 2024, by the EFCC’s Lagos Zonal Directorate 1, which prosecuted the case. During the trial, prosecuting counsel, Z.B. Atiku, called three witnesses and tendered documentary evidence, while the defence presented 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 counts one to seven, which bordered on fraudulent false accounting. He also received two years’ imprisonment without an option of fine on each of counts eight and nine, relating to unauthorised access to a computer system with intent to facilitate the commission of crimes.
Although the individual sentences totalled 39 years, the judge ordered that they run concurrently, meaning Edeh will serve the prison terms simultaneously rather than consecutively.
