The Kaduna Zonal Directorate of 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 alleged foreign exchange fraud amounting to ₦1.02 billion.
Haruna was arraigned on Wednesday, November 5, 2025, on a two-count charge bordering on advance fee fraud and obtaining money under false pretence.
According to the EFCC, Haruna allegedly defrauded one Alhaji Sheriff Zailani Shanono between December 2023 and January 2024, after claiming he could provide the dollar equivalent of ₦1.02 billion at agreed instalments.
One of the counts 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 ₦782,300,000.00 (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.”
The second count involves an additional ₦125 million obtained under the same pretext.
Haruna, however, pleaded not guilty when the charges were read to him. Prosecution counsel M.E. Eimonye requested a trial date, while defence counsel M.T. Mohammed informed the court that a bail application had already been filed.
After listening to both parties, Justice Khobo adjourned the case till November 19, 2025, for hearing of the bail application and ordered that the defendant be remanded in a Correctional Centre pending further proceedings.
According to the EFCC, Haruna’s arrest followed a petition from the complainant, Shanono, who alleged that the defendant promised to convert his funds to U.S. dollars, $600,000 and $400,000 respectively, through a foreign bank account.
Shanono claimed that after transferring the ₦1.02 billion to accounts provided by Haruna, he received purported payment evidence showing that the dollar equivalent had been transferred to his foreign bank account, but later discovered the documents were forged and the funds never arrived.
The EFCC said investigations revealed that Haruna fraudulently obtained the money under false pretence and diverted it for personal use.
