In the first quarter of 2026, scores of Nigerians in the diaspora were arrested, tried and jailed for their involvement in a series of crimes, ranging from sexual assault, multimillion-dollar romance scams, internet/wire fraud to murder, among others.
From the Americas to Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, the Peoples Gazette’s checks revealed that many Nigerians in the diaspora were caught in the web of crime. This list, containing names of Nigerians arrested, undergoing trial or jailed abroad from January to March, is not exhaustive.
In January, a Malaysian-based 48-year-old Nigerian, Ibekwe Emeka Augustine, was sentenced to death by hanging for murdering his four-year-old step-grandson by throwing him from the third floor of an apartment in 2020 and also sexually assaulting his 25-year-old stepdaughter.
In the same month, Thai immigration and police operatives busted a suspected 13-member international romance scam syndicate in the Muang Thong Thani area of Thailand, arresting at least 11 Nigerians.
In the U.S., Emuobosan Emanuella Hall, a 45-year-old Nigerian, was sentenced to 96 months’ imprisonment for her role in a romance scam. For failing to report to the Bureau of Prisons to serve her sentence, the FBI declared Ms Hall wanted.
While January saw fewer Nigerians fingered in criminal activities abroad, the number of criminal cases involving Nigerians in the diaspora increased in February.
Being found guilty of murdering his ex-girlfriend, a Nigerian based in the United Kingdom, Adedapo Adegbola, 40, was sentenced to life in prison by Nottingham Crown Court in the UK on February 5.
On February 13, a UK court sentenced Anthony Esan, a Nigerian who carried out a knife attack on a uniformed army officer, Lieutenant Colonel Mark Teeton, to life imprisonment for attempted murder.
A U.S. court sentenced a Mexico-based Nigerian, Matthew A. Akande, to eight years in prison for working with other conspirators to defraud the U.S. government of the sum of $1.3 million on February 18.
In Ireland, Adeleke Adelani, a Nigerian, was sentenced to more than 13 years’ imprisonment after unlawfully aborting the pregnancy of his former partner on Valentine’s Day, February 19, 2020. The 28-year-old deceitfully lured the woman, who is not officially named, to his house in Letterkenny, Ireland, under the pretence of discussing the pregnancy further.
On February 19, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Afeez Olatunji Adewale, a Yahoo boy, had been arrested and extradited from Nigeria to the United States to face charges related to sexual extortion and the death of a young man in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
On February 19, Gloria Makanjuola, a UK-based Nigerian, was jailed for nine months for assaulting a man on a Central Line train, smashing his phone, and attempting to steal his wallet.
Old Bailey Court in the UK sentenced a Nigerian teenager, Jackson Uwagboe, to life in prison for murdering a 21-year-old, Robert Robinson, at Deptford in the UK. The judgment stipulated that Mr Uwagboe, 19, will spend at least 21 years in prison before being eligible for release.
On February 23, Esosa Eguakin, a UK-based Nigerian, was sentenced to two years in prison for sexually assaulting two women on board a train.
On February 25, a U.S. court sentenced Paulinus Okoronkwo, an ex-chief of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, to seven years and three months in prison for receiving a $2.1 million bribe while working for the government-owned oil firm.
On February 26, a U.S. court sentenced Leslie Chinedu Mba, a U.S.-based Nigerian, to 19 years in prison. Mba attempted to unlawfully obtain U.S. residency through fraudulent marriages and perpetrated a $4 million wire fraud.
On March 10, the Ghana Immigration Service arrested at least 93 Nigerians for involvement in internet fraud and violations of the country’s immigration laws. Maud Anima Quainoo, the spokesperson for Ghana Immigration Services, announced the arrest in a statement.
On March 11, Norway’s Nordmøre og Romsdal District Court sentenced Daniel Daga, a Nigerian U-20 international, to six months’ imprisonment after finding him guilty of committing a sexual act without consent. However, Mr Daga’s lawyer, Astrid Bolstad, said the verdict will be appealed.
On March 21, a UK court sentenced two Nigerians, Fred Akinsanya and Daniel Raji, to a combined 21 years in prison for drugging and raping a 15-year-old schoolgirl. Sentencing Messrs Akinsanya and Raji at the Inner London Crown Court, Judge Richards condemned them for their nefarious act and lamented its effect on the victim.
On March 23, James Junior Aliyu, a Nigerian extradited from South Africa to the U.S. to face trial on wire fraud, was sentenced to over seven years in prison. Mr Aliyu was slapped with a $1.2 million forfeiture order and a $2.4 million restitution order, and he will be removed from the United States upon completion of his sentence.
On March 24, Ayobami Omoniyi, a U.S.-based Nigerian, was sentenced to two years and six months in prison for his involvement in multimillion-dollar wire fraud. Mr Omoniyi, 26, who was in the United States on a Green Card, was sentenced for laundering fraud proceeds through an unlicensed money transmitting business.
In March, two Nigerians, Elike Francis Ogbuefi and Steven Silvester, “heavily linked to Black Axe international crime syndicate”, were jailed for €6million fraud in Ireland. Mr Ogbuefi, 42, was sentenced to nine years in prison, while Mr Silvester, 32, bagged seven-and-a-half years’ imprisonment.
On March 26, Chukwuemeka Michael Ahanonu, a UK-based Nigerian, was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison for murdering a woman whom he randomly attacked in a Leicester street. Mr Ahanonu, 24, violently attacked 56-year-old Nila Patel during the late afternoon of Tuesday, June 24, last year, on Infirmary Road, Leicester, after crashing his car while under the influence of cannabis.
Banjo Popoola
In March, a U.S. grand jury indicted Banjo Popoola, a Nigerian working as a building development inspector in St Louis, Missouri, for fraudulently awarding multimillion-dollar construction contracts to his sister and wife in return for kickbacks. These kickbacks were traced to a lavish wedding Mr Popoola held with his second wife in Hawaii, casino gambling, luxury car purchase and repairs and so on.
On March 31, Saheed Sunday Owolabi, a Nigerian yahoo boy, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for involvement in $1.5 million wire fraud and money laundering.
Also in March, the U.S. Secret Service seized about $700,000 in cryptocurrency stolen via business email compromise schemes involving accounts linked to Nigeria and is seeking its forfeiture in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
Court documents obtained by The Gazette showed $516,332.72 was seized from three cryptocurrency wallets on or about March 10, 2026, in Tyler, Texas. The first contained $201,801.06, the second had $15,200.63, and the third held $299,331.02.
Additionally, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security released a list of over 100 convicted Nigerian criminals, listed among the “worst of the worst” villains in America.
According to Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index for 2025, released in the first quarter of 2026 on February 10, Nigeria dropped two points to 142 out of 182 countries.