The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Kaduna Zonal Office, on Wednesday, November 5, 2025, arraigned one Captain Nuhu Haruna before Justice Darius Khobo of the Kaduna State High Court over an alleged foreign exchange fraud totalling ₦1.02 billion.
Haruna, the Managing Director of Maphutha Oil & Gas Limited, was arraigned on a two-count charge bordering on obtaining money under false pretence and advance fee fraud.
According to the EFCC, Haruna defrauded one Alhaji Sheriff Zailani Shanono of ₦782.3 million in December 2023 and another ₦125 million in January 2024 after claiming he could provide the dollar equivalent of the sums.
One of the charges reads:
“That you, Nuhu Haruna (M), with NIN 45666600264, while being the Managing Director of Maphutha Oil & Gas Limited, sometime in December 2023 at Kaduna, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, obtained the total sum of ₦782,300,000 (Seven Hundred and Eighty-Two Million, Three Hundred Thousand Naira only) from one Alhaji Sheriff Zailani Shanono, when you claimed to be capable of providing him with the equivalent in United States Dollars and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1(1)(b) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, 2006, and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.”
A second count details a similar transaction involving ₦125 million in January 2024.
The defendant pleaded not guilty to both counts. Prosecution counsel M.E. Eimonye requested a trial date, while defence counsel M.T. Mohammed informed the court of an existing bail application.
Justice Khobo adjourned the matter until November 19, 2025, for the hearing of the bail application and ordered that Haruna be remanded in a Correctional Centre pending further proceedings.
Investigations revealed that the defendant allegedly received a total of ₦1.02 billion from Shanono, purportedly to exchange for $1 million in two instalments of $600,000 and $400,000. After the payment, Haruna reportedly provided fake evidence of dollar transfers into a foreign account, which turned out to be fraudulent, as no such funds were received.
