A court in Benin City, Nigeria, has sentenced a man to two years in prison for converting more than N21.9 million erroneously credited to his bank account to personal use.
Justice Irele Ifijeh of Edo State High Court in Benin City, convicted Chinedu Francis Nwabuisi, who was arraigned by the Benin Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The EFCC said Nwabuisi converted N21,939,237.27 to personal use after the money was erroneously credited to his account due to a system glitch at First Bank PLC.
Prosecution counsel M. S. Dahiru presented two witnesses, including a senior First Bank official and an EFCC operative, and tendered documentary evidence admitted by the court.
In his defence, Nwabuisi said he believed the money was a benefit accruing to him for operating a Point of Sale (POS) business with the bank.
Justice Ifijeh found him guilty and sentenced him to two years’ imprisonment without an option of fine.
The court also ordered him to restitute N21,939,732.27 l to First Bank, the complainant.
Under Nigerian law, money mistakenly credited to a bank account does not become the property of the account holder, and spending it can amount to a criminal offence.
Prosecutors typically charge such cases as theft or fraudulent conversion.
Section 383 defines theft as fraudulent conversion to personal use of anything capable of being stolen. Section 390 provides for fraudulent conversion and related offences involving another person’s property.
In Edo State, where the case was tried, Section 387(1) of the Edo State Criminal Law 2022 creates the offence of stealing by fraudulent conversion, punishable under Section 394.
Other states have similar provisions, such as Section 293 of the Kaduna State Penal Code Law 2017 on criminal misappropriation, punishable under Section 294.
Central Bank of Nigeria says customers who receive unexpected credits are obligated to report them and cooperate with reversal procedures. At a stakeholders’ meeting in Ibadan in October 2026, the CBN said failure to refund money wrongly deposited could attract five to 10 years’ imprisonment.
In a similar case in January 2026, an Edo State High Court convicted Ojo Eghosa Kingsley after he received N1.5 billion due to a system glitch and converted part of it to personal use.