Justice Yelim Bogoro of the federal high court in Ikoyi, Lagos, has ordered the final forfeiture of N81,108,143.8 to the federal government in favour of Sterling Bank Plc.
The order followed a motion filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) through Hannatu KofarNaisa, its counsel.
The court had earlier granted an interim forfeiture order on October 2, 2025, and directed that the decision be published in a national newspaper to allow any interested party to show cause why the funds should not be permanently forfeited.
Investigations by the EFCC revealed that the funds were part of more than N2.5 billion allegedly stolen by some customers of Sterling Bank due to a system glitch which enabled unauthorised transfers through the PAYATTITUDE Global Ltd banking platform.
According to an affidavit deposed to by EFCC investigator Maina Gapani Gyal, the commission received a petition from the bank on July 18, 2022, which triggered investigations that traced portions of the stolen funds to several accounts.
Gyal stated in 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 an opportunity for customers to transfer funds despite having insufficient balances in their accounts.
The investigation further identified Sulaiman Kehinde Ojora as one of the major beneficiaries of the fraud.
According to the affidavit, Ojora allegedly concealed N43 million in the account of his associate, Taiwo Oluwaseyi Alawode, domiciled in Access Bank Plc, while N122.2 million was traced to the account of his wife, Aminat Olatanwa Ojora, held with Sterling Bank.
The EFCC told the court that the bank was unable to recover about N295.9 million from the fraud as the funds had already been withdrawn and converted by the beneficiaries.
However, the bank was able to recover N81,108,143.8 from the affected accounts and an additional N490,349,000 from its internal ledger.
KofarNaisa informed the court that the interim forfeiture order was published in The Punch newspaper on February 19, 2026, but no objections were filed by any interested party.
After reviewing the application, Justice Bogoro ruled that the request was valid.
“Having gone through the motion and attachments, I find the application meritorious and the same is accordingly granted,” the judge held.
He consequently ordered that the recovered funds be finally forfeited to the Federal Government in favour of Ste Arrestrling Bank Plc.