The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Monday arraigned an Abuja-based couple, Osabohein Ologbose and his wife, Hope Oghelemu, before Justice Ekerete Akpan of the Federal High Court in Abuja over an alleged 740 million naira fraud.
The couple, alongside two companies — Onome Global Market Resources Ltd. and Lexicon Multi-Concept Media Ltd. — face seven counts of obtaining by false pretenses, conversion of funds and money laundering under the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
Prosecutors alleged that between January 2023 and April 2024, Ologbose took possession of 340 million naira paid into his Kuda Microfinance Bank account from an Access Bank account belonging to his wife, when he reasonably ought to have known the funds were proceeds of unlawful activity.
Another count alleged that he used 24.1 million naira from the same source to establish a music and photo studio at Crowther Plaza in Abuja’s Gudu District, knowing or reasonably expected to have known the funds were proceeds of an unlawful act.
The EFCC said the couple induced investors to part with money for the purported procurement and export of bitter kola and red kolanut to Hong Kong, China, and Indonesia, promising attractive returns. Investigators said the investors neither received the promised returns nor had their capital refunded.
At the arraignment, defense counsel Marshal Abubakar asked the court to allow Ologbose to continue on administrative bail previously granted and sought bail for Oghelemu, citing that she was nursing a 1-year-old child.
Justice Akpan allowed Ologbose to remain on administrative bail but denied bail to Oghelemu and remanded her at the Suleja Correctional Centre. The case was adjourned until April 27, 2026, for hearing.
The commission said the arraignment is part of its ongoing efforts to hold accountable individuals and entities involved in large-scale financial fraud in Nigeria.
The case follows other high-profile fraud investigations, including the recent arrest of a Lagos-based couple accused of staging a kidnapping to extort 10 million naira from relatives and friends.
