The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Monday, February 16, 2026, arraigned a businessman, Osabohein Alex Ologbose, his wife, Hope Onome Oghelemu, and two companies over an alleged N740 million investment fraud before Justice Ekerete Akpan of the Federal High Court, Abuja.
The defendants include Ologbose, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Onome Global Market Resources Limited and Lexicon Multi-concept Media Limited, his wife, and the two firms.
They were docked on a seven-count amended charge bordering on obtaining by false pretence, conversion of funds and money laundering, contrary to Sections 18(2)(b), 18(2)(d) and 18(3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
At the arraignment, prosecution counsel, O.S. Ujam, informed the court that amended charges had been filed on January 28, 2026, and prayed the court to read them to the defendants.
One of the counts alleged that Ologbose, between January 2023 and April 2024 in Abuja, took possession of N340 million paid into his Kuda Microfinance Bank account from an Access Bank Plc account belonging to Hope Onome Oghelemu, when he reasonably ought to have known the funds formed part of the proceeds of an unlawful act.
Another count alleged that he used N24.1 million from the same source to establish and operate a music and photo studio at Crowther Plaza, Gudu District, Abuja, knowing or reasonably expected to have known that the funds were proceeds of unlawful activity.
The defendants pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Following their plea, the prosecution sought a trial date, while defence counsel, Marshal Abubakar, urged the court to allow the first defendant to continue enjoying administrative bail earlier granted and to admit the third defendant to bail on the ground that she was nursing a one-year-old baby.
In his ruling, Justice Akpan refused bail for the third defendant but allowed the first defendant to continue on the administrative bail earlier granted. The court ordered that the third defendant be remanded at the Suleja Correctional Centre.
The matter was adjourned to April 27, 2026, for commencement of trial.
According to the EFCC, investigations revealed that the defendants allegedly induced members of the public to invest in a purported export business involving bitter kola and red kolanut to Hong Kong, China and Indonesia, with promises of high returns on investment.
The anti-graft agency said investors neither received their promised returns nor had their capital refunded.
