A Federal High Court in Lagos has granted bail to two students accused of a cyber heist involving MTN Nigeria Communications valued at N1.9 billion. Timothy Oluwabukola of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic and Anthony Odemerho of Resign Regal Academy were each granted bail in the sum of N50 million.
Justice Akintayo Aluko, after hearing two separate bail applications, stipulated additional conditions for their release. Each defendant is required to provide two sureties. One must be a civil servant employed by the federal or Lagos State government at grade level 14 or higher. The second surety must be a property owner within the court’s jurisdiction, with verifiable ownership documents and an affidavit of means. The civil servant sureties must present a reference letter from their place of work and a letter of their most recent promotion. The defendants are also to submit two recent passport photographs to the court registrar.
Justice Aluko ordered that all submitted documents, including the sureties’ residential addresses, be verified by the prosecution. Until the bail conditions are met, the defendants will remain in the correctional centre.
Oluwabukola and Odemerho were arraigned on July 30, 2024, by the Police Special Fraud Unit on charges of conspiracy, unauthorised access to MTN’s web-based platform (Application Programming Interface), and unlawful conversion. The alleged crimes, which reportedly occurred between January and April 2024 in Lagos and Edo states, involved the theft of N1.9 billion worth of airtime and data.
Police prosecution counsel Justine Enang stated that the defendants, alongside others still at large, breached Sections 27(1)(b); 6(2), and 28(1)(b) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015 as amended in 2024, and Section 18(2)(b) of the Money Laundering (Prevention And Prohibition) Act, 2022.
Despite the gravity of the allegations, both defendants pleaded not guilty. The prosecutor requested a trial date and their remand pending the determination of the charges. However, the defence lawyer had filed bail applications, which were served on the prosecutor during the proceedings. Consequently, Justice Aluko scheduled the next hearing for August 5, 2024, to address the bail applications.
