● Defendant pleads not guilty as court orders remand in correctional centre
It was drama at the Kaduna State High Court on Wednesday, November 5, 2025, as operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) dragged one Captain Nuhu Haruna, Managing Director of Maphutha Oil & Gas Limited, before Justice Darius Khobo over an alleged ₦1.02 billion foreign exchange racket.
Haruna, looking unruffled in the dock, was slammed with a two-count charge of advance fee fraud and obtaining money under false pretence. The EFCC alleged that he duped one Alhaji Sheriff Zailani Shanono of the eye-popping sum, claiming he could deliver the dollar equivalent of the funds.
According to the anti-graft agency, Haruna first collected ₦782.3 million from Shanono in December 2023, promising to exchange it for US dollars. Then, as if that wasn’t enough, he allegedly returned in January 2024 to collect another ₦125 million under the same guise.
But the supposed forex deal turned sour when Shanono realised the “evidence of dollar transfer” Haruna presented was nothing but a phantom transaction. The dollars never dropped!
EFCC counsel, M.E. Eimonye, urged the court to fix a trial date after Haruna pleaded not guilty to the charges. However, defence counsel, M.T. Mohammed, told the court that a bail application had already been filed.
Justice Khobo adjourned the matter to November 19, 2025, for hearing of the bail motion and ordered that Haruna be remanded in a correctional centre pending further proceedings.
An EFCC statement by its spokesperson, Mr. Dele Oyewale, said Shanono petitioned the EFCC, claiming Haruna lured him into the shady deal with promises of wiring $600,000 and $400,000 in two tranches to his foreign account — a promise that turned to dust once the money left his hands.
Now, the once high-flying oil executive faces the heat of the law — and possibly a long stretch behind bars — if found guilty of the billion-naira forex swindle.
