Two bank employees and three alleged accomplices landed in court on the 20th of May, 2025, facing cybercrime charges over a foiled plan to breach a Nigerian bank’s digital fortress.
The Lagos Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned Kehinde Odeyemi and Matthew Adeniyi Damilola, both staff of Premium Trust Bank, before Justice Alexander Owoeye at the Federal High Court in Ikoyi.
They weren’t alone in the dock, the EFCC also docked Samson Latshin Dakup, Bolaji Omotosho Yinka, and Sunday Badeniyi Okunola. Together, the five are facing a seven-count charge for allegedly conspiring to hack the bank’s internal systems in a coordinated cyber attack.
The agency says the group had allegedly planned to compromise the bank’s IT setup by tampering with server and domain logins, potentially giving them unrestricted access to customer funds.
But EFCC officials say they stopped the breach before any money disappeared.
READ ALSO: EFCC Closes N3.1bn Fraud Case Against Suswam
One of the charges states: “That you, Kehinde Odeyemi, Samson Latshin Dakup, Bolaji Omotosho Yinka, Sunday Badeniyi Okunola, and Matthew Adeniyi Damilola, along with individuals identified as Humble (at large), Wasiu (at large), Isa Ismaila (at large) and another referred to as Victor Joshua Ilemona aka Oracle, (at large), conspired unlawfully between April and May 2025 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, to manipulate the access code (this included the bank’s server IP and domain credentials) of Premium Trust Bank Limited in a bid to gain unauthorised access to the entire database of Premium Trust Bank Limited for the purpose of committing an offense to wit: stealing from the bank’s funds, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 27 and 28 (1) (b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc) Act, 2015 (as amended, 2024), which is punishable under Section 28 (2) of the same Act.”
All five pleaded not guilty.
EFCC prosecutor Zeenat B. Atiku asked the court to fix a date for trial and keep the defendants in custody while the case proceeds.
Lawyers for the accused, led by Adeleke Adepoju, asked for bail on the spot, but Justice Owoeye refused all oral requests. He told the defence to submit formal applications instead.
He ordered Kehinde Odeyemi to be held at the Kirikiri Correctional Centre. The others were sent to Ikoyi Correctional Centre.