ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has revealed how suspected internet fraudsters, popularly known as Yahoo boys, emptied more than N7.2 million from the bank account of a serving judge in the middle of the night, describing the incident as a stark reminder of the growing sophistication of cybercrime in Nigeria.
Olukoyede disclosed this during the public presentation of two books authored by retired High Court judge, Justice Alaba Omolaye-Ajileye, where he also called for stronger collaboration among stakeholders to combat financial crimes and urged lawmakers to enact legislation that would support the use of artificial intelligence, AI, in criminal investigations.
Recounting the incident, the EFCC chairman said he received a distress call around 1 a.m. from a serving judge in one of the South-South states who had suddenly discovered that the money she had saved over six years for her child’s education had disappeared from her bank account.
“What was the problem? She had just been scammed of the money she had been putting together for six years to send her child to school.
“She said it was alerts that woke her up. She received debits at that time of the day. Was it that the bank was at work, or what could be going on?
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“Before she knew it, she had been scammed of about N7.2 million. So she put a call through to me that I had to do something.”
Olukoyede said the incident occurred in a state where the EFCC had earlier been restrained by a court order from investigating certain financial crimes.
“Incidentally, it was the state where they got an order against the EFCC from investigating certain crimes. And she said, ‘My lord, I have an order, an injunction not to investigate financial crimes in that state.’
“She said, ‘No, no, no! This is an exception. You must do something immediately!'”
According to him, the commission moved swiftly and successfully recovered the entire amount before the end of the same day.
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“Do you understand the point I am trying to make here? When you become a direct victim, that is when you’ll know that something has to be done.
“Before 6 p.m., we recovered the entire money for her. I am very sure that if an application comes before her, my lord, to stop the EFCC from carrying out its mandate, she will dismiss it because she has become a victim.
“So, it is important for us to understand the depth of this problem.”
The EFCC chairman stressed that the fight against financial crimes requires collective action involving law enforcement agencies, the judiciary and ordinary Nigerians.
“Not until we, as Nigerians, come together and agree to face this challenge law enforcement agencies playing their role, citizens doing their part, and the judiciary too doing its part it is only then that we will be able to put this problem behind us. We can do it. Nigeria can do it, and we will do it and succeed.”
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Olukoyede also drew attention to the growing role of artificial intelligence in criminal investigations, noting that although the EFCC had already begun deploying AI-powered tools, existing laws pose challenges regarding the admissibility of AI-generated evidence in court.
“Now we have already started deploying the tools of AI in the investigation of crime. But what I am cracking my brain about is how do I generate evidence and make it admissible?
“It is a bit difficult from what Section 84 of the Evidence Act provided for. This is because now we talk of a robot. Is a robot a human being? Being an electronic device doing the work of a human being, robots can now think for you. Robots can do anything human beings can do.
“So we are looking at that area. I wish our legislators and professors of law will take time and come together to look at this area and come up with laws that will help us in the area of AI.”
Also speaking at the event, former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Kanu Agabi (SAN), urged anti-corruption agencies to intensify efforts to recover billions of naira in looted public funds allegedly stashed abroad.
“We have billions abroad. This generation would have failed if we do not bring back that money. That is what we must do now,” Agabi said.
The event featured the unveiling of Justice Omolaye-Ajileye’s two books, Electronic Evidence (Second Edition, with the Evidence Act, 2011) and A Compendium of Cases on Electronic Evidence (Volume II, 2020–2025), and was attended by serving and retired judicial officers from the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal and other courts across the country, alongside senior legal practitioners and security officials.