The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Lagos Zonal Directorate 1, on Tuesday arraigned two employees of Premium Trust Bank, Kehinde Odeyemi and Matthew Adeniyi Damilola, before Justice Alexander Owoeye of the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos.
They were arraigned alongside three others, Samson Latshin Dakup, Bolaji Omotosho Yinka, and Sunday Badeniyi Okunola, on a seven-count charge bordering on conspiracy to steal.
According to the EFCC, the defendants allegedly attempted to manipulate the bank’s server and domain credentials in an effort to gain unauthorised access to its database and steal customer funds. The commission said the planned fraudulent activity was intercepted before any loss occurred.
One of the charges read:
“That you, Kehinde Odeyemi, Samson Latshin Dakup, Bolaji Omotosho Yinka, Sunday Badeniyi Okunola, and Matthew Adeniyi Damilola, along with individuals identified as Humble (at large), Wasiu (at large), Isa Ismaila (at large) and another referred to as Victor Joshua lemona aka Oracle, (at large), conspired unlawfully between April and May 2025 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, to manipulate the access code (this included the bank’s server IP and domain credentials) of Premium Trust Bank Limited in a bid to gain unauthorised access to the entire database of Premium Trust Bank Limited for the purpose of committing an offense to wit: stealing from the bank’s funds, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 27 and 28 (1) (b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc) Act, 2015 (as amended, 2024), which is punishable under Section 28 (2) of the same Act.”
The accused pleaded not guilty when the charges were read to them.
Following their pleas, prosecuting counsel Zeenat B. Atiku asked the court to fix a trial date and requested that the defendants be remanded in a correctional centre.
Counsel to the first defendant, Adeleke Adepoju, appealed to the court for bail, saying, “He stated that he didn’t have enough time to make a formal application.” Other defence lawyers also made oral bail applications for their clients.
Justice Owoeye, however, rejected the applications.
