A combined photo of Hope Onome Oghelemu and Osabohein Alex Ologbose
By Abdullahi Abubakar
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Monday arraigned a businessman, his wife and two companies before the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja over an alleged N740million investment fraud.
The defendants; Osabohein Alex Ologbose, Chief Executive Officer of Onome Global Market Resources Limited and Lexicon Multi-concept Media Limited, alongside his wife, Hope Onome Oghelemu, were docked before Justice Ekerete Akpan on a seven-count amended charge bordering on obtaining by false pretence, conversion of funds and money laundering.
Also listed as defendants are Onome Global Market Resources Limited and Lexicon Multi-concept Media Limited.
According to the EFCC, the offences contravene Sections 18(2)(b) and 18(2)(d) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, and are punishable under Section 18(3) and 18(4) of the same Act.
At the commencement of proceedings, prosecution counsel, O.S. Ujam informed the court that amended charges had been filed on January 28, 2026, and urged 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 an aggregate sum of N340million paid into his Kuda Microfinance Bank account from an account domiciled in Access Bank Plc, when he reasonably ought to have known that the funds formed part of the proceeds of an unlawful act.
Another count alleged that the defendant used N24.1million from the same account 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; hence, the prosecution requested a date for the commencement of the trial.
The defence counsel, Marshal Abubakar, prayed the court to allow the first defendant to continue enjoying the administrative bail earlier granted by the court.
He also sought bail for the third defendant on the grounds that she was nursing a one-year-old baby.
In his ruling, Justice Akpan declined the bail application for the third defendant but permitted the first defendant to continue on the existing administrative bail.
The court ordered that the third defendant be remanded at the Suleja Correctional Centre and adjourned the matter until April 27, 2026, for a definite hearing.
According to the EFCC’s investigation, the defendants allegedly induced members of the public to invest funds under the pretext that the money would be used to procure and export bags of bitter kola and red kolanut to Hong Kong, China and Indonesia, with promises of attractive returns on investment.
The anti-graft agency alleged that the investors neither received the promised returns nor had their capital refunded.
