A Nigerian man identified as Ogo Ehosa Kingsley has been convicted by a High Court sitting in Edo, for involving in criminal and fraudulent acts, and sentenced to one year imprisonment after declaring that he chooses to serve a jail term than refund the balance from the N1.5 billion naira mistakenly credited to his First Bank account.
Reports revealed that a total sum of N1.5 billion was mistakenly sent into a First Bank account belonging to a Nigerian man, between June and November 2025 and the man deliberately refused to report the development to the police nor refund it to the bank, instead, he started spending from the money.
Following a thorough investigation by the operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), a sum of ₦802,420,000 was recovered from Kingsley’s account, as well as from the accounts of his mother and sister, while the bank successfully reversed transactions totaling over ₦300 million.
He was subsequently arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Benin City, and on 19 January 2026, he was arraigned before the Edo State High Court. Kingsley was charged with theft and fraud under the Edo State Criminal Law (2022). He was found guilty and asked to refund the remaining balance in his possession.
But in a dramatic turn of events, Kingsley informed the court that he preferred serving a prison sentence to refunding the remaining amount. In effect, he openly chose incarceration over the repayment of ₦272 million.
