The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission recovered over N7.2m stolen from a serving judge’s bank account by suspected internet fraudsters, its Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, has disclosed, revealing the commission traced and retrieved the entire sum within a single business day.
Olukoyede said the judge lost six years of savings meant for her child’s education after Yahoo boys drained her account overnight, with multiple debit alerts jolting her awake around 1 a.m.
Speaking on Friday at the public presentation of two books authored by retired High Court judge, Justice Alaba Omolaye-Ajileye, the EFCC boss narrated how the judge called him directly, pleading for urgent intervention before the stolen funds vanished.
“She had just been scammed of the money she had been putting together for six years to send her child to school. She said alerts woke her up. She received debit alerts at that time of the day. Before she knew it, she had been scammed of about N7.2m,” Olukoyede said.
He disclosed that the case arose in a state where a court had previously restrained the EFCC from investigating certain financial crimes, creating an awkward moment when he informed the judge of the existing injunction.
“Incidentally, it was the state where they got an order against the EFCC restraining it from investigating certain crimes. I said, ‘My lord, I have an order, an injunction restraining me from investigating financial crimes in that state.’ She said, ‘No, no, no! This is an exception. You must do something immediately!’” he recounted.
Olukoyede said the commission moved swiftly, tracking the funds and recovering the full amount before 6 p.m. 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. So, it is important for us to understand the depth of this problem,” he said.
The EFCC chairman called for stronger collaboration between security agencies, the judiciary and the public to combat the rising wave of cybercrime in the country.
“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. We can do it. Nigeria can do it, and we will do it and succeed,” he added.
Olukoyede further revealed that the commission has begun deploying artificial intelligence tools in criminal investigations, though he flagged the urgent need for legal reforms to address the admissibility of AI-generated evidence in court.
“Now we have already started deploying the tools of AI in the investigation of crime. But what I am cracking my brain about is how to generate evidence and make it admissible? This is because now we talk of a robot. Is a robot a human being? Being an electronic device doing the work of a human being, robots can now think for you. Robots can do anything human beings can do,” he said.
He appealed to lawmakers and legal scholars to develop appropriate legislation governing the use of AI in evidence generation.
“So we are looking at that area. I wish our legislators and professors of law will take time and come together to look at this area and come up with laws that will help us in the area of AI,” he said.
Also speaking at the event, former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Kanu Agabi, SAN, urged the EFCC and other anti-graft agencies to intensify efforts toward recovering public funds allegedly stolen and stashed abroad.
