Justice Yelim Bogoro of the federal excessive court docket in Ikoyi, Lagos, has ordered the ultimate forfeiture of N81,108,143.8 to the federal authorities in favour of Sterling Bank Plc.
The order adopted a movement filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) by means of Hannatu KofarNaisa, its counsel.Demographics
The court docket had earlier granted an interim forfeiture order on October 2, 2025, and directed that the choice be printed in a nationwide newspaper to permit any occasion to point out trigger why the funds shouldn’t be completely forfeited.
Investigations by the EFCC revealed that the funds have been a part of greater than N2.5 billion allegedly stolen by some prospects of Sterling Bank as a consequence of a system glitch which enabled unauthorised transfers by means of the PAYATTITUDE Global Ltd banking platform.
According to an affidavit deposed to by EFCC investigator Maina Gapani Gyal, the fee acquired a petition from the {bank} on July 18, 2022, which triggered investigations that traced parts of the stolen funds to a number of accounts.
Gyal acknowledged within the affidavit that, “over N2,500,000,000 was stolen by some customers of the bank and converted to their own personal use as well as to the use of some third-party beneficiaries.”
He added that the fraud occurred after a system glitch created a chance for purchasers to switch funds regardless of having inadequate balances of their accounts.
The investigation additional recognized Sulaiman Kehinde Ojora as one of many main beneficiaries of the fraud.
According to the affidavit, Ojora allegedly hid N43 million within the account of his affiliate, Taiwo Oluwaseyi Alawode, domiciled in Access Bank Plc, whereas N122.2 million was traced to the account of his spouse, Aminat Olatanwa Ojora, held with Sterling Bank.
The EFCC advised the court docket that the {bank} was unable to recuperate about N295.9 million from the fraud because the funds had already been withdrawn and transformed by the beneficiaries.
However, the {bank} was capable of recuperate N81,108,143.8 from the affected accounts and an extra N490,349,000 from its inside ledger.
KofarNaisa knowledgeable the court docket that the interim forfeiture order was printed in The Punch newspaper on February 19, 2026, however no objections have been filed by any occasion.
After reviewing the appliance, Justice Bogoro dominated that the request was legitimate.
“Having gone through the motion and attachments, I find the application meritorious and the same is accordingly granted,” the decide held.
He consequently ordered that the recovered funds be lastly forfeited to the Federal Government in favour of Ste Arrestrling Bank Plc.
