An official of Premium Trust Bank, Ajayi Michael Folaseye, has narrated before a Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos, how he turned down a $7,000 bribe offered by a colleague who sought unauthorized access to the bank’s internal systems.
Folaseye, the first prosecution witness (PW1), testified in the ongoing trial of Kehinde Odeyemi and Matthew Adeniyi Damilola, both employees of Premium Trust Bank, before Justice Alexander Owoeye of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos, on Monday, June 30, 2025.
The defendants are standing trial alongside three others — Samson Latshin Dakup, Bolaji Omotosho Yinka, and Sunday Badeniyi Okunola — on a seven-count charge of conspiracy to steal, filed against them by the Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, Folaseye, an Information Technology (IT) officer at the bank, told the court that the first defendant, Kehinde Odeyemi, an internal auditor, made the offer during a discreet conversation on May 5, 2025.
“She approached me during office hours and suggested we could make some money through a ‘side gig,’” he said.
“She asked for a generic IP address used within the IT department.”
Folaseye explained that he informed her that no such generic IP address existed, adding that he only had a personal IP address assigned for his daily tasks.
Despite his refusal, Odeyemi allegedly offered him $5,000 in cash, promising to have it delivered from the bank’s head office that evening.
“When I declined, she increased the offer to $7,000,” he said.
“I told her I wasn’t interested. She then told me to keep the conversation secret and threatened to resign if I reported it,” NAIJAONPOINT added.
Folaseye said he immediately attempted to report the incident to his supervisor, Mr. Kenneth Nwaeze.
When Nwaeze was unavailable, he escalated the matter to Mr. Idris Adegoke and eventually to the Head of IT, Mr. Mike Koledoye.
According to him, Koledoye convened a meeting on May 6, 2025, with all parties involved, listened to their accounts, and instructed that appropriate security measures be implemented.
A week later, on May 13, Folaseye and two other staff members were invited by the EFCC to give formal statements.
NAIJAONPOINT further explained that the IP address Odeyemi requested was a highly sensitive access point to the bank’s servers and databases.
“It is a code that grants access to customer data and core banking operations. Disclosing it would pose serious cybersecurity risks,” he said.
He added that sharing such sensitive information would constitute a violation of the bank’s data protection policies.
“My department is the backbone of the bank. We warehouse all transaction data. A breach could lead to cyber attacks or erode customer trust,” he stated.
When asked why he decided to report the conversation despite being urged to remain silent, Folaseye said, “Given past incidents, the bank mandates us to report any suspicious behaviour immediately. It could have been a trap or an integrity test.”
The prosecution then sought to tender NAIJAONPOINT ’ written statement to the EFCC as evidence.
Although the defence objected, citing illegibility, Justice Owoeye admitted the document, ruling that the concerns raised were issues for cross-examination, not grounds for inadmissibility.
Earlier, the first defendant’s counsel, Adeleke Adepoju, applied for an adjournment, arguing that the defence had inadequate access to prosecution materials necessary for trial preparation.
He referenced Section 36(6) of the Constitution and Section 396 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015.
Counsel for the second and fifth defendants, Olusola and A. Oliha, also opposed the trial’s commencement, claiming the proof of evidence was unclear and unreadable.
However, Oyedepo countered, insisting the prosecution had served the documents since June 19.
“If the defence had concerns, they should have raised them before today. Everyone agreed to this trial date,” he argued, urging the court to proceed.
In a bench ruling, Justice Owoeye dismissed the applications and directed the prosecution to proceed with its first witness. The case was adjourned to July 18, 2025, for further hearing.
The EFCC had, on May 20, 2025, arraigned Odeyemi, Damilola, and the three others before the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, on a seven-count charge of conspiracy to steal.
One of the counts reads: “That you, Kehinde Odeyemi, Samson Latshin Dakup, Bolaji Omotosho Yinka, Sunday Badeniyi Okunola, and Matthew Adeniyi Damilola, along with persons identified as Humble (at large), Wasiu (at large), Isa Ismaila (at large), and another referred to as Victor Joshua Ilemona aka Oracle (at large), conspired unlawfully between April and May 2025 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, to manipulate the access code (including the bank’s server IP and domain credentials) of Premium Trust Bank Limited in a bid to gain unauthorised access to the entire database of Premium Trust Bank Limited for the purpose of committing an offence to wit: stealing from the bank’s funds, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 27 and 28 (1) (b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc.) Act, 2015 (as amended, 2024), which is punishable under Section 28 (2) of the same Act.”