Segun Otokiti
Nigeria’s anti-graft agency, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has presented the Eleventh Prosecution Witness, PW11, against Jesam Michael Ubi and his Afriq Arbitrage System, AAS, before Justice Obiora Egwuatu of the Federal High Court, Maitama, Abuja.
Ubi and his company are being prosecuted by the Commission on a seven-count charge, bordering on obtaining under false pretence and operating an investment company without a licence.
The witness, Gumbe Baba Ahmed, an Abuja-based physiotherapist, who was led in his testimony by prosecution counsel, Ekele Iheanacho, SAN, told the court that he, his wife and his mother had an investment of over $5, 700 (Five Thousand Seven Hundred Dollars) in Afriq Arbitrage System.
He presented three print out images of the investment company’s dashboard to show evidence of their participation in the investment platform. The three print outs were admitted in court as Exhibit T-T20.
He also told the court that he was convinced to invest in the Afriq Arbitrage System by his friend who was also an investor in the platform.
He further disclosed that Ubi, the first defendant, assured him and other investors in a Telegram group chat of the investors that their investments could not be hacked and that the platform was directly connected to Binance, which he said was a popular and secure trading platform.
The witness, however, revealed that at a point, he began to notice that he could no longer have access to his profile and the investment platform’s dashboard, to which the first defendant dismissed as a system glitch, informing him that other investors had experienced similar issues and that it will be sorted out.
The witness also stated that with time, the first defendant surprisingly informed the investors that due to the system glitch, Return on Investment, ROI, which was set at 1.65% had been reduced to 0.35% and was even further reduced to 0.065%, yet that he was unable to access his capital and the ROI as promised by the first defendant.
During his cross-examination, defence counsel Uchenna Njoku, SAN sought to know if the witness was aware of the dealings of one Olusesan Abayomi in the investment platform, to which he answered in the negative.
It could be recalled that at the March 3, 2026 proceedings, Mohammed Dauda Ali, a staffer in the Investigation and Enforcement Department of the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, told the court that AAS was not registered with SEC and that there was no record of its application in the SEC system for registration to operate as an investment firm.
Ali, who appeared before the court as the Tenth Prosecution Witness, PW10, also told the court that the first defendant only applied for assessment in June 2024 but that the assessment could not be carried out because the EFCC had already commenced investigation of AAS for alleged fraudulent activities.
Justice Egwuatu adjourned the matter till April 16 and 17, 2026 for continuation of trial.
