Abuja, Nigeria – Nigeria’s anti-graft agency has brought fraud charges against a man accused of collecting more than ₦600 million under the false promise of securing a top appointment at the country’s state oil company. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Monday arraigned Gidado Ibrahim before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Maitama, Abuja, over an alleged job scam linked to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
The case, presided over by Justice H. Muazu, centres on claims that Ibrahim and a second suspect, Halimat Adenike Tejusho, who is currently at large, fraudulently obtained ₦603.4 million (approximately $400,000) from a victim between August and October 2024. Prosecutors allege the money was collected on the pretext that it would be used to facilitate the victim’s appointment as Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, a position filled through formal presidential and institutional processes.
Okay News reports that the defendants were charged on an amended six-count charge bordering on fraud, obtaining money by false pretence, and forgery. According to the prosecution, one of the counts alleges that the accused knowingly deceived the complainant into believing the appointment could be secured, an act said to be contrary to Nigeria’s Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act of 2006.
Another charge accuses Ibrahim of presenting a forged document purportedly issued by the Office of the National Security Adviser at the Presidential Villa, which prosecutors say he used as genuine despite knowing it was false. The alleged offence falls under Nigeria’s Penal Code, which criminalises the use of forged documents.
Ibrahim pleaded not guilty to all six charges when they were read in open court. Following his plea, the EFCC requested that the court fix a trial date and remand the defendant in custody pending the commencement of trial. Defence counsel, however, informed the court that a bail application had been filed, although it was not yet ready for hearing, and asked that his client be held in EFCC custody due to health concerns.
Justice Muazu adjourned the case to February 17, 2026, for the hearing of the bail application and ordered that the defendant be remanded at the Kuje Correctional Facility. The court proceedings mark the latest in a series of high-profile fraud cases pursued by the EFCC involving false claims of access to senior government appointments.
