The Abuja Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Monday, July 21, 2025, arraigned oil magnate Philip Ifejimalu Eze and his company, Orimiri Oil and Gas, before Justice A.H. Musa of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Apo, Abuja, over an alleged ₦63 million fraud.
Eze was docked on a one-count charge bordering on obtaining goods by false pretence, following allegations that he fraudulently induced a businessman, Chief Amechi Nduka of Amatex Oil and Gas, to supply 45,000 litres of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO), valued at ₦63 million.
The charge reads:
“That you, Philip Ifejimalu Eze, while being the Managing Director of Orimiri Oil and Gas, sometime in 2024 in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with intent to defraud, induced one Chief Amechi Nduka of Amatex Oil and Gas to deliver 45,000 litres of Automotive Gas Oil valued at ₦63,000,000 (Sixty-Three Million Naira only), payment for which was made via a bank cheque of Mainstreet Bank Plc, which you knew had already been liquidated, and same was rejected at Zenith Bank Plc when presented for payment; which pretense you knew to be false. You thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, 2006 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.”
Eze pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Following his plea, prosecution counsel, Mariya Ujudud Shariff, requested a date for the commencement of trial. In response, Justice Musa granted the defendant bail with strict conditions.
The judge ordered that the defendant must produce two sureties: one must be a civil servant not below Grade Level 12 and present a letter of introduction from his place of employment to be verified by the court registrar; the second must own a house within the court’s jurisdiction, depose to an affidavit, and sign a bail bond of ₦2 million.
The matter was adjourned till November 11, 2025, for the commencement of trial.
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