Justice Raliat Adebiyi delivered the judgment, convicting Gobir on all 17 counts brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Alhaji Mohammed Gobir, a former director of Afromedia Plc, has been sentenced to seven years in prison by the Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja for orchestrating what investigators described as an elaborate multi-million-naira and foreign-currency fraud.

Justice Raliat Adebiyi delivered the judgment, convicting Gobir on all 17 counts brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

 The charges included stealing, obtaining by false pretence, forgery, and possession of fraudulent documents.

The case began in 2016 when Afromedia Plc petitioned the EFCC, alleging that Gobir had devised a sophisticated scheme that cost the company hundreds of millions of naira and substantial amounts in foreign currency.

According to court records, Gobir fraudulently secured a position on Afromedia’s board by falsely promising to invest N1 billion into the company. Once on the board, he siphoned off $3.5 million, $514.4 million, $2.1 million, and £51,000 under various false pretences.

Prosecutors told the court that one of Gobir’s most brazen claims was that he needed $250,000 to secure a waiver certificate to retrieve $250 million he said was being held by British anti-money laundering authorities. 

Justice Adebiyi dismissed this claim, describing it as “entirely fictitious and part of a deliberate ploy to mislead and defraud the company.”

The court also heard how Gobir convinced Afromedia to release over $514 million, claiming it was needed to facilitate the transfer of $70 million from a non-existent London bank account.

Gobir was arrested at his Ikoyi residence in September 2015 after months of investigation by the EFCC into what officials called one of the more elaborate financial frauds within Nigeria’s corporate sector.

In her judgment, Justice Adebiyi described Gobir’s actions as “a betrayal of confidence and fiduciary duty.”

Following the verdict, the EFCC hailed the judgment as a significant step in the fight against economic crimes, saying it showed that “no one is above the law, regardless of influence or status.”