A Kaduna Magistrates’ Court has sentenced one Abdulgafar Aminu, 19, to six months imprisonment for stealing N450,000 with a stolen ATM card.

The convict, who resides at Ungwan Rimi, Kaduna, was convicted of theft.

The Magistrate, Ibrahim Emmanuel, who found Aminu guilty of the charge, however, granted him an option of N30,000.

In his judgment, Emmanuel held that the convict failed to give the court a reasonable explanation for why he committed the crime.

He also ordered the convict to restitute the sum of N450,000 to the complainant, Shuaibu Dauda.

Emmanuel held that if the convict defaulted in restitution of the money, an additional year should be added to his jail term.

Earlier, the prosecutor, Insp. Chidi Leo told the court that the convict was reported at the Gabasawa Police Station by the complainant on June 3.

According to Leo, the convict went to the complainant’s shop located at Kano Road, Kaduna, stole his ATM card and withdrew N200,000 and N250,000 on different occasions.

He added that the convict later went to withdraw another N50,000, but the suspicious POS operator questioned the transaction.

The prosecutor said that when the POS operator  he could not give a satisfactory explanation of  how the card came into his possession

The prosecution added that the convict was arrested and during the police investigation, he confessed to the crime.

Leo said the offence contravened the Penal Code of Kaduna State, 2017

The Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday, adjourned the bail application filed by three detained promoters of Crypto Bridge Exchange (CBEX) in the alleged over one billion dollars fraud until June 30 for ruling.

Justice Emeka Nwite fixed the date after counsel for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Fadila Yusuf, and the defence lawyers adopted their processes and argued their case for and against the application.

The Newsmen reports that Justice Nwite had, on April 24, given the EFCC the go-ahead to arrest and detain six operators of CBEX over their involvement in the fraud.

The judge, who gave the order after the EFCC’s lawyer, Yusuf, moved an ex parte motion to the effect, said the detention would be pending the conclusion of the investigation of the alleged offences and possible prosecution.

The six suspects include Adefowora Abiodun Olanipekun, Adefowora Oluwanisola, Emmanuel Uko, and Seyi Oloyede.

Others are Avwerosuo Otorudo and Chukwuebuka Ehirim as the 1st to 6th defendants, respectively.

In the motion ex-parte dated and filed April 23 by Yusuf, the anti-graft agency gave four grounds for its application.
She said the EFCC has a statutory duty of prevention and detection of financial crimes through investigation.

Yusuf said that “the defendants are at large and a warrant of arrest is required to arrest the defendants for proper investigation and prosecution of this case.”

The press reports that Adefowora Abiodun (1st defendant), Avwerosuo Otorudo (5th defendant) and Chukwuebuka Ehirim (6th defendant) had been in the EFCC’s custody on investigation.

Upon resumed hearing on Wednesday, Babatunde Busari, who appeared for Abiodun, and Justice Otorudo, who represented Otorudo and Ehirim, informed the court that they had filed bail applications on their clients’ behalf.

“We have a pending application dated 20th May, 2025 and filed same date. We are ready to proceed, my lord,” Busari said.

Otorudo equally told the court that he filed a bail application on behalf of the 5th and 6th defendants (Otorudo and Ehirim) dated May 8, but filed on May 9.

Busari said, though they were in receipt of the EFCC’s counter affidavit this morning, they were ready to proceed.

“We will reply to the counter affidavit on points of law, my lord,” he said.
Busari said the bail application was brought pursuant to Sections 34, 35, 36, 41 and 46 of the constitution (as amended) and Sections 159, 259, 296 and 298 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015.

He said the application sought an order granting Abiodun bail on liberal terms from the EFCC’s custody pending the preferment of charge, if any, against him.

He said it also sought an interim order compelling the EFCC to produce him before the court for the purpose of the court granting him bail from the commission’s custody as guaranteed by relevant sections of the law.

Busari, while giving the grounds for the application, said the court on April 24 issued an arrest warrant and a remand order against Abiodun and other persons in respect of CBEX.

The lawyer, however, said that before April 24, Abiodun had, through his counsel, reached out to the EFCC on April 22 that he was ready to surrender himself for investigation, and that on April 28, he turned himself in for investigation.

He said Abiodun, who is suffering from a severe ailment, had been in the custody of the anti-graft agency without bail since April 28, more than the statutory prescribed 14 days.

He said the EFCC latched on to the facts that the order of the court did not prescribe a time and could detain Abiodun for as long as they wanted in breach of his right.

Besides, he argued that no charge had been filed against him for any infraction of the law in any competent court of law.

Busari said though the prosecution served them with a counter affidavit earlier in the morning, he based his argument on two points of law.

The lawyer argued that in the entirety of the counter affidavit, no averment controverts Abiodun’s affidavit in support of the bail application, citing two previous cases to back his submission.

Again, he argued that though the totality of the EFCC’s counter affidavit was hinged on the argument that Abiodun might likely jump bail, he reminded that Abiodun voluntarily surrendered himself to the commission.

Besides, he argued that the country’s legal system recognises the presumption of a suspect as innocent until proven guilty and that the assumption that he might likely jump bail should not be a basis for bail denial.

He said his detention for about 40 days contradicted Sections 295 and 296 of ACJA, which stipulated 14 days for a remand order and another 14 days extension.
The lawyer urged the court to grant their prayers.

On his part, counsel to the 5th and 6th defendants, Otorudo, also argued in the same vein.
He said his application sought an order varying the earlier order granting the EFCC leave to arrest and detain his clients pending the conclusion of the investigation or possible arraignment/trial.

The lawyer, who gave six grounds, said the 5th and 6th defendants voluntarily surrendered themselves to the investigation since April 25, and that up to date, they were still in custody without being admitted to bail.

He said if granted bail, the applicants are willing and ready to be available for further investigation and attend court whenever required.

“We have a four-paragraph affidavit in support. We also have two exhibits urging my lord to grant the application.

“By way of adumbration, we submit that my lord at this point will consider whether there are material facts to show whether the applicants will be available for trial,” he said.

Otorudo disagreed with the EFCC’s argument on the severity of the charge against his clients.
“We submit that the charge annexed as exhibit, in its totality, does not raise any severe offence that will deter the applicants from being granted bail.”

He argued that the offences they are being charged with are bailable ones.
He, therefore, prayed the court to use its discretion in their favour.

Responding, Yusuf vehemently opposed their bail application.

She said in response to Abiodun’s application, a five-paragraph counter affidavit was filed with three exhibits.

The EFCC’s lawyer observed that Abiodun, in his prayer, sought bail pending the preferment of a charge against him.

“Our submission is that this prayer has been overtaken by event as a charge has already been filed before this honourable court, and we urge you to so hold,” she said.

She also urged the court to discountenance the 5th and 6th defendants’ application for bail.
According to Yusuf, all the defendants in this matter are being charged for the offence of obtaining over N1 billion dollars, more than some states’ budgets in Nigeria.

“It is, more than a budget of about 10 states joined together, my lord,” she said.

She said the commission was still receiving petitions from victims of the alleged fraud.

The lawyer said though granting bail is at the discretion of the court, this should be done judiciously and judicially.

“We urge my lord not to grant this application,” she concluded.

The Newsmen reports that the EFCC, in the affidavit in support of the motion ex-parte, said sometime in April 2025, it received an intel bothering on an alleged investment scheme fraud against the defendants.

It alleged that the defendants and their company, ST Technologies International Limited, using another company, Crypto Bridge Exchange (CBEX), perpetrated the alleged fraud and the case was received and assigned to its Cybercrimes Section for investigation.

The agency said the preliminary investigation into the intel revealed the following:
“That Messrs.Adefowora Abiodun Olanipekun, Adefowora Oluwanisola, Emmanuel Uko and Seyi Oloyede, using their company ST Technologies International Limited, promoted another company Crypto Bridge Exchange (CBEX) by making adverts and lured unsuspecting members of the public to invest cryptocurrencies on the CBEX investment platform.”
The EFCC averred that the defendants promised unrealistic returns on investment of up to 100%.

“That the victims were made to convert their digital assets into a stable coin of USDT for onward deposit into the suspect’s crypto wallet.

“That the victims were initially given full access to the platform to monitor their investment.
“Following the deposits valued at over 1 Billion Dollars by the victims, the CBEX investment platform became inaccessible to them, and they could no longer withdraw from the investment made.

“The victims later discovered that the said scheme is a scam.
“That during the investigation, it was discovered that the said ST Technologies International Limited, though registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), was not registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for investment purposes.

“It was also discovered during the investigation that the defendants had moved out of their last known address in Lagos and Ogun States.”

The anti-graft agency said that a warrant of arrest was required to place the defendants on the red watch list so that they could be traced and arrested to answer to the case against them.

According to the commission, an investigation into the allegation against the defendants revealed a prima facie case of investment scam.

It said it would be in the interest of justice to grant the application.

The Police Command in Kaduna State said security operatives stormed criminal hideouts in the Kawo Area of Kaduna and arrested 27 suspected criminals, recovered dangerous weapons and hard drugs.

The command’s spokesperson, DSP Mansir Hassan, confirmed the arrest in a statement issued on Monday in Kaduna.

Hassan said, “The action was in line with the directive of the Commissioner of Police to identify, flush out and dismantle criminal elements threatening the peace in some designated areas.

“The command had conducted a series of raids in a joint operation with the Military, DSS, and Kaduna State Vigilante Service within Kawo Area and its surroundings, leading to the arrest of numerous suspects and the recovery of dangerous weapons.

“On Sunday, at about 10:30 pm, a joint tactical operation was launched in the nooks and crannies of Kawo and neighbouring areas.

“This operation led to the arrest of 27 suspects, and a significant cache of dangerous weapons was recovered from them.

” Exhibits recovered during the operation included knives, axes, cutlasses and large quantities of dried leaves suspected to be Indian hemp and other hard drugs.”

He said the Commissioner of Police (CP) Rabiu Muhammad had reiterated the command’s unwavering commitment to maintaining law and order across the state.

He emphasised that Kaduna remained a peaceful state, and the Police would not allow miscreants or criminally-minded individuals to destabilise the peace of the state.

Muhammad vowed, “Anyone with intentions to cause violence or disrupt public order is strongly advised to desist or vacate the state.

“The police will continue to clamp down on miscreants and give them no breathing space within the state.”