The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ola Olukoyede, has narrated how suspected internet fraudsters, popularly known as Yahoo boys, allegedly stole over N7.2 million from the bank account of a serving judge in the middle of the night.
Olukoyede disclosed that the money represented six years of savings the judge had set aside for her child’s education.
The EFCC chairman spoke on Friday at the public presentation of two books authored by retired High Court judge, Justice Alaba Omolaye Ajileye.
According to him, the judge contacted him around 1 a.m. after receiving multiple debit alerts indicating that funds had been withdrawn from her account.
He said, “She had just been scammed of the money she had been putting together for six years to send her child to school. She said it was alerts that woke her up. She received debits at that time of the day. Before she knew it, she had been scammed of about N7.2 million.”
Olukoyede explained that the judge immediately appealed to the commission for help in recovering the stolen money, despite the incident occurring in a state where the EFCC had previously been restrained from investigating certain financial crimes.
He recounted, “Incidentally, it was the state where they got an order against the EFCC from investigating certain crimes. She said, ‘My lord, I have an order, an injunction not to investigate financial crimes in that state.’
“She said, ‘No, no, no! This is an exception. You must do something immediately!'”
The EFCC boss said the commission swung into action and successfully recovered the entire N7.2 million before the close of business on the same day.
“Before 6 p.m., we recovered the entire money for her. I am very sure that if an application comes before her to stop the EFCC from carrying out its mandate, she will dismiss it because she has become a victim,” he said.
Olukoyede stressed the need for collective efforts involving law enforcement agencies, the judiciary and citizens to tackle the growing threat of cybercrime.
He said, “Not until we, as Nigerians, come together and agree to face this challenge, law enforcement agencies playing their role, citizens doing their part, and the judiciary too doing its part, it is only then that we will be able to put this problem behind us.”
The anti-graft agency chairman also revealed that the commission had begun deploying artificial intelligence tools in criminal investigations but called for legal reforms to address issues surrounding the admissibility of AI generated evidence in court.
He urged lawmakers and legal scholars to develop laws that would strengthen the use of emerging technologies in the country’s justice system.
