Military Officer Arrested After Lavishing N20m Mistakenly Credited To His Account

A serving airman, Lance Corporal Haruna Samuel of the Nigeria Air Force Base, Kaduna, probably thought he had received some manna from heaven when a mysterious N20 million landed in his bank account on 3 December, 2020.

Samuel went immediately on a spending binge, settling old debts and spending part of it on himself, after all Christmas was not far away. He is now facing trial for egregious dishonesty and theft. He pleaded not guilty.

The Kaduna Zone of the EFCC on Tuesday docked him before Justice Darius Khobo of the Kaduna State High Court on a charge of theft and criminal misappropriation. The defendant was alleged to have on December 3, 2020 received a credit alert of the sum of N 20, 014,300 into his bank account. The money was sent in error from the account of his employer.

The EFCC said since Samuel wasn’t expecting any payment of such magnitude, he ought to have reported the payment to his bank or employer. Instead, he went ahead to withdraw part of the money for personal use, including settling debts. After carrying out this fraudulent act, the defendant absconded from his duty post to Plateau State where he was eventually arrested by operatives of the Commission.