Two people, Abel Egerton Sokari and Nkiruka Chukwuma, as well as a business, Zakah Global Investment Limited, have been charged by the Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) with trying to defraud First Bank out of €49 million.
The commission claims that the defendants used forged documents and a false representation of a foreign bank transaction to fraudulently obtain €49,000,000 from First Bank of Nigeria. On Monday, July 7, 2025, they appeared before Justice Mojisola Dada of the Special Offences Court in Ikeja, Lagos, on a six-count charge that included forgery, possession of fraudulent documents, and obtaining false pretences.
Continuing, the charges states: “That you, Abel Egerton Sokari, Nkiruka Chukwuma, Zakah Global Investment Limited, Cheryl Austin Adanti (at large), Husain Abid (at large), Shazad Muhammed (at large), and Ismail Adil (at large), on or about the 19th day of May 2025, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with intent to defraud, attempted to obtain the sum of Forty-Nine Million Euros (€49,000,000.00) from First Bank of Nigeria by falsely representing that Bayan Investment Bank and Hedge Fund Statutory Trust had transferred the aforementioned sum into account number 2046430791 belonging to Zakah Global Investment Limited, domiciled at First Bank of Nigeria.”
However, the EFCC also accused the defendants of falsifying court records purportedly associated with a former US president’s defence attorney. It stated: “That you, Abel Egerton Sokari and Nkiruka Chukwuma, sometime in April 2024 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, had in your possession a document containing false pretences, to wit: a letter purportedly from the law office of Steven H. Sado, P.C., a lead defence attorney for U.S. President Donald Trump, which document you knew to be false.”
BrandSpur Nigeria news reports that to every charge against them, Sokari and Chukwuma pleaded not guilty. In addition to requesting a trial date, prosecution attorney H.U. Kofarnaisa urged the court to remand the defendants in custody.
The first and second defendants’ attorneys, Clement Onwenwnor, SAN, and Laolu Owolabi, SAN, pleaded with the court to grant their clients the most lenient bail possible. They also agreed to hold the defendants in custody until their bail was perfected. Each defendant was given a N500,000 bail amount by Justice Dada, along with a corresponding amount for one surety. After being temporarily released to their attorney, they had one month to fulfil the requirements of the bail.
It is expedient to know that the trial in the case was postponed until October 29, 2025.
