Justice Rahman Oshodi of the Lagos State Special Offences Court in Ikeja on Wednesday convicted and sentenced Samuel Asiegbu, a former financial and retail product manager at Wema Bank Nigeria Plc, to three years in prison for allegedly hacking and stealing N8.56 billion from the bank’s vault.

Justice Oshodi jailed Asiegbu, without the option of a fine, after he pleaded guilty to the eight-count charge of conspiracy, fraud, and unauthorised access to a computer system.

The convict was accused by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alongside Hamza Zakaria, Nurudeen Ibrahim and Alhaji Sulaiman of manipulating the bank’s internal systems in January 2025 to cause a financial loss of over N8.5 billion.

The anti-graft agency informed the court on June 23, 2025, when the defendants were first arraigned, that the offences violate Sections 409 and 386 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

All the defendants had initially pleaded not guilty to the charge.

However, Asiegbu later changed his plea to guilty, leading to his conviction and sentencing.

Justice Oshodi sentenced the convict to 10 months and 8 days in prison for count three and 1 year and 8 months for count four, both sentences are to run concurrently and without an option of a fine.

The court subsequently struck out counts one and two.

The judge has fixed November 14 for the commencement of the trial of the remaining defendants.