Reported by: Oahimire Omone Precious | Edited by: Henry Owen
Kaduna, Nigeria – November 7, 2025: The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned Captain Nuhu Haruna, Managing Director of Maphutha Oil & Gas Limited, before Justice Darius Khobo of the Kaduna State High Court over an alleged ₦1.02 billion foreign exchange fraud.
Haruna was brought before the court on Wednesday, November 5, 2025, on a two-count charge bordering on obtaining money under false pretence and advance fee fraud. According to the EFCC, the defendant allegedly defrauded a businessman, Alhaji Sheriff Zailani Shanono, of over one billion naira in a fake dollar exchange deal.
Investigators revealed that between December 2023 and January 2024, Haruna received a total of ₦1.02 billion from Shanono — ₦782.3 million in December and ₦125 million in January — claiming he could provide the dollar equivalent of the payments.
However, after receiving the funds, Haruna reportedly issued fake evidence of dollar transfers to a foreign account, which later proved to be fraudulent.
One of the charges reads:
“That you, Nuhu Haruna (M), 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 sum of ₦782,300,000 from one Alhaji Sheriff Zailani Shanono under the pretence of providing its equivalent in United States Dollars, thereby committing 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.”
Haruna pleaded not guilty to both charges when read before the court.
Prosecution counsel M.E. Eimonye requested a date for trial, while defence counsel M.T. Mohammed informed the court that a bail application had already been filed.
Justice Darius Khobo adjourned the case until November 19, 2025, for the hearing of the bail application and ordered that the defendant be remanded in a correctional centre pending further proceedings.
The EFCC reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring justice and warned the public to remain vigilant against fraudulent foreign exchange transactions and other financial scams.
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