Justice Akintayo Aluko of the Federal High Court, sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Thursday, July 30, 2026, convicted and sentenced four Bureau de Change (BDC) operators to 12 months’ imprisonment each for engaging in illegal foreign exchange transactions.
The convicts, Umar Muhammad Lamido, Yusuf Musa Yusuf, Abdulmuhimin Mahmud, and Muhammed Musa, were prosecuted by the Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ikoyi, on separate one-count charges bordering on illegal foreign exchange operations.
One of the charges against Abdulmuhimin Mahmud reads:
“That you, ABDULMUMIN MAHMUD, on the 23rd of July, 2026, in Lagos within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, engaged in a foreign exchange transaction other than through the official foreign exchange market and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 11(1)(a) of the National Economic Intelligence Committee Establishment (Etc.) Act, 1994 and punishable under Section 11(2) of the same Act.”
The defendants pleaded guilty to their respective charges.
Following their guilty pleas, the prosecution counsel, H. U. Kofarnaisa, reviewed the facts of the cases and urged the court to convict and sentence them accordingly.
Justice Aluko convicted the four defendants and sentenced each of them to 12 months’ imprisonment, with an option of a ₦100,000 fine.
