Court Convicts Ex-Access Bank Staff for Unauthorised Withdrawals on 305 Customers’ Account

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Two former employees of Access Bank Plc, identified as Mr Obadofin Daniel Bamise and Ms Hadiza Oyiza Yakubu, have been convicted and sentenced by Justice A.A. Bello of the Kaduna State High Court for theft.

The convicts were found guilty of a separate one-count charge of theft against them by the Kaduna Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

They carried out unauthorised withdrawals on the accounts of 305 customers of Access Bank, who were beneficiaries of the federal government’s Palliative Scheme, totalling N7.8 million. They posted the unauthorised withdrawals to the Palliative Scheme’s coordinators’ accounts.

After pleading “guilty” to the charges against them, Justice Bello convicted and sentenced both of them to seven years imprisonment each, with an option of a N50,000 fine each.

According to a statement from the EFCC, the charge against Mr Bamise was, “That you, Obadofin Bamise Daniel sometime between the 5th of November, 2024 and 23rd of January, 2025 in Kaduna, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, while being an employee of Access Bank Plc did in your capacity as an employee committed theft in the sum of N433.000 being property in possession of Access Bank Plc and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 274 of the Kaduna State Penal Code Law, 2017 and punishable under same Law.”

The charge against Ms Yakubu was, “That you, Hadiza Oyiza Yakubu sometimes between the 5th of November, 2024 and 23rd of January, 2025 in Kaduna, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, while being an employee of Access Bank Plc did in your capacity as an employee committed theft in the sum of N806,000 being property in possession of Access Bank Plc and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 274 of the Kaduna State Penal Code Law, 2017 and punishable under same Law.”