From Sola Ojo, Abuja
The Lagos Zonal Directorate 2 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on Wednesday, July 8, 2025, arraigned one Adepoju Emmanuel Abiodun, promoter of Bigibet, before Justice O.A. Okunuga of the State High Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos.
Abiodun and his company, Nobelsteed Nigerian Limited, are being prosecuted on a 10-count charge bordering on stealing and obtaining money by false pretence to the tune of ₦855 million.
In 2021, he allegedly approached the petitioner to introduce Nobelsteed, which he claimed was primarily involved in the gaming business (lottery business).
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He told the petitioner that he was raising capital for the proposed lottery business and urged him to invest in Nobelsteed’s equity capital.
It was also alleged that the defendant convinced the petitioner that he had been in the industry for a long time.
In view of this, the petitioner allegedly invested and also got other people to invest in Nobelsteed.
It was further alleged that a total sum of ₦855 million was paid into Abiodun’s nominated bank account as a deposit for shares in the purported capital-raising exercise.
The defendant, however, allegedly reneged on his promise and failed to refund the investors.
One of the counts reads: “That you, Mr Adepoju Emmanuel Abiodun, Nobelsteed Nigerian Limited, sometime between June 2021 and September 2021 in Lagos, within the Ikeja Judicial Division of this Honourable Court, deceitfully obtained the total sum of ₦855,000,000.00 (Eight Hundred and Fifty-Five Million Naira) only, from several unsuspecting persons, through your GT Bank Account No. 0591549473, by falsely representing to them that the said amount was an investment for the purchase of Equity Share Capital of Nobelsteed Nigerian Limited, which representation you knew to be false, thereby committing an offence of obtaining money by false pretence contrary to sections 1(1)(a) and 1(3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act No. 14 of 2006.”
The defendants pleaded “not guilty” to the charge.
In view of this, the prosecution counsel, A.M. Dambuwa, asked the court for a trial date and prayed the court to remand the defendant in a correctional centre pending the trial.
The defence counsel, Adeyinka Abdulsalam, informed the court of a bail application, which he said had been served on the prosecution counsel.
Justice Okunuga ordered the defendant to be remanded at the Ikoyi correctional centre.
The judge adjourned the case until Wednesday, July 9, 2025, for the hearing of the bail application and Wednesday, September 17, 2025, for the commencement of the trial.
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