Oil Company Boss In Trouble Over ₦1.02bn Forex Fraud.

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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Kaduna has arraigned Captain Nuhu Haruna, Managing Director of Maphutha Oil & Gas Limited, before Justice Darius Khobo of the Kaduna State High Court for allegedly defrauding a businessman of ₦1.02 billion in a foreign exchange deal.

Haruna was brought before the court on Wednesday, November 5, 2025, on a two-count charge bordering on obtaining money under false pretence and advance fee fraud.

According to the EFCC, Haruna deceived one Alhaji Sheriff Zailani Shanono into paying him ₦782.3 million in December 2023 and another ₦125 million in January 2024, claiming he could provide the dollar equivalent of the sums.

One of the charges 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 (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 also involved a separate ₦125 million transaction in January 2024.

Haruna pleaded not guilty to both charges. The prosecution counsel, M.E. Eimonye, requested a trial date, while the defence counsel, M.T. Mohammed, informed the court that a bail application had already been filed.

Justice Khobo adjourned the matter until November 19, 2025, for the hearing of the bail application and ordered that Haruna be remanded in a correctional facility until further proceedings.

Further investigations by the EFCC revealed that Haruna allegedly collected a total of ₦1.02 billion from Shanono to exchange for $1 million in two instalments of $600,000 and $400,000. After receiving the funds, Haruna reportedly provided fake proof of dollar transfers to a foreign account, which later turned out to be fraudulent as no money was ever sent.