Alleged Forgery: DPP Intervention Stalls Arraignment of Two First Bank Managers 

Wale Igbintade

The arraignment of two senior managers of First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Temitope Ogheneteme and Nnedimma Arah, before the Federal High Court in Lagos was stalled yesterday following an intervention by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) of the Federation, acting on a petition by the bank.

The First Bank staff are facing charges of conspiracy and forgery instituted by operatives of the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Lagos State Police Command, in a charge marked FHC/L/582C/2025, pending before Justice Daniel Osiagor.

When the matter was called, the prosecution counsel, Emmanuel Eze, informed the court that the prosecution was ready to proceed.

 However, counsel to the defendants, Barrister Ihegazie, drew the court’s attention to a letter from the DPP of the Federation requesting the transmission of the case file for review and possible takeover of the prosecution. 

He urged the court to adjourn the matter to enable the DPP exercise its constitutional powers.

Justice Osiagor consequently adjourned the case to March 11, 2026, for the defendants’ arraignment.

The letter from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, dated January 26, 2026, was addressed to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, State Criminal Investigation Department, Nigeria Police Force, Panti, Yaba, Lagos, with attention to the Officer-in-Charge of Legal and Prosecution. 

Titled “Request for Case File in Respect of Charge No: FHC/L/582C/2025 Between Inspector-General of Police v. Temitope Ogheneteme and Nnedimma Arah,” the letter stated that the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation had received a petition in respect of the charge and therefore requested the immediate transmission of the duplicate case file to the Lagos Liaison Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation at the Federal Ministry of Justice, to enable a review of the matter in line with the provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act. 

First Bank of Nigeria Limited, in its petition to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, dated January 26, 2026, invoked Section 211 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), requesting the AGF to take over the prosecution of its staff. 

According to First Bank, the dispute arose from a $400,000 credit facility granted to Freshborn Industries Limited, in respect of which all relevant transaction documents were duly executed at the time the Letter of Credit was established. 

The bank stated that following foreign exchange fluctuations, Freshborn Industries was requested to increase its cash collateral but allegedly refused.

Instead, the company instituted a civil action at the Lagos State High Court, claiming it did not execute one of the transaction documents, a suit which remains pending.

First Bank further stated that it had already paid the foreign supplier of Freshborn Industries, after which the customer cleared and sold the imported goods. 

Despite this, the company later petitioned the police, accusing bank officials of forgery. 

The bank argued that the criminal charge arose from a commercial dispute already before a civil court and warned that the prosecution amounted to an abuse of the criminal justice process. 

Copies of the charge sheet and arraignment notice were attached to the petition.

According to the charge sheet, Ogheneteme and Arah allegedly committed the offences between January 2023 and January 2024 at the Dosumu and Balogun branches of First Bank, Lagos Island.

They were accused of conspiring to forge Freshborn Industries Limited’s letter of undertaking dated August 12, 2022, relating to foreign exchange differentials, and presenting it as genuine to First Bank of Nigeria Limited, to the prejudice of Anene Ikenna, Anene Chinyere Angel, and Freshborn Industries Limited.

The alleged offences are said to contravene Section 516 of the Criminal Code Act, Cap. C38, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, and Section 1(2)(c) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act, Cap. M17, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

The arraignment of the defendants had earlier been fixed for July 2025 but was adjourned due to their absence. 

A subsequent date, November 4, 2025, also failed as the trial judge was outside the jurisdiction on official assignment.