EFCC arraigns Bigibet promoter, firm for alleged N855m fraud
The Lagos Zonal Directorate 2 of the Financial and Monetary Crimes Commission (EFCC), on Tuesday, July 8, 2025, arraigned one Adepoju Emmanuel Abiodun, promoter of Bigibet, sooner than Justice O.A. Okunuga of the Bid High Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos.
Abiodun and his firm, Nobelsteed Nigerian Restricted, are being prosecuted on a 10-depend price bordering on stealing and acquiring below fallacious pretence to the tune of N855 million.
In 2021, he allegedly approached the petitioner to introduce Nobelsteed, which he claimed was once primarily into gaming industry (lottery industry).
He urged the petitioner that he was once elevating capital for the proposed lottery industry and furthermore urged him to speculate in Nobelsteed’s equity capital.
It was once furthermore alleged that the defendant convinced the petitioner that he had been within the alternate for a truly very long time.
In behold of this, the petitioner allegedly keyed into it and furthermore obtained one more folks to speculate in Nobelsteed.
It was once additional alleged that a total sum of N855,000,000.00 (Eight Hundred and Fifty-Five Million Naira) was once paid into Abiodun’s nominated bank yarn as a deposit for shares within the purported capital-elevating bid.
The defendant, on the replacement hand, allegedly reneged on his promise and failed to refund the merchants.
One of the significant counts reads: “That you, Mr. Adepoju Emmanuel Abiodun, Nobelsteed Nigeria Restricted, sometime between June 2021 and September 2021 in Lagos, within the Ikeja Judicial Division of this Honourable Court, deceitfully got the entire sum of N855,000,000.00 (Eight Hundred and Fifty-Five Million Naira) simplest, from quite loads of unsuspecting folks, via your GT Monetary institution Chronicle No. 0591549473, by falsely representing to them that the acknowledged quantity was once an funding for the opt of Equity Portion Capital of Nobelsteed Nigeria Restricted, which representation you knew to be fallacious, thereby dedicated an offence of acquiring money by fallacious pretence, opposite to Sections 1(1)(a) and 1(3) of the Near Charge Fraud and Varied Fraud Associated Offences Act No. 14 of 2006.”
The defendants pleaded “no longer responsible” to the associated price.
In behold of this, the prosecution counsel, A.M. Dambuwa, asked the court docket for a trial date and furthermore prayed the court docket to remand the defendant in a correctional centre pending the trial.
The defence counsel, Adeyinka Abdulsalam, told the court docket of a bail application, which he acknowledged had been served on the prosecution counsel.
Justice Okunuga ordered the defendant to be remanded at the Ikoyi Correctional Centre.
The opt adjourned till July 9, 2025, for the hearing of the bail application and September 17, 2025, for the graduation of trial.
