EFCC arraigns Blessing CEO over N69.15m fraud allegation
Abdullateef Fowewe
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned social media influencer, Okoro Blessing Nkiruka aka Blessing CEO before Justice R.A. Oshodi of the Special Offences Court in Ikeja.
According ti to a statement obtained from the anti-graft agency on Tuesday, Blessing CEO was arraigned on a two‑count charge alleging fraud totalling N69,150,000.
In the statement, the EFCC said the Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 “arraigned a social media influencer, Okoro Blessing Nkiruka, (a.k.a Blessing CEO) for an alleged N69,150,000 (Sixty‑Nine Million, One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira) fraud.”
The charges, the commission added, allege obtaining money by false pretence and stealing.
Reading the counts to the defendant, the court was told that count one alleges that on or about March 21, 2025, Nkiruka “by false pretence and with intent to defraud, induced Hope Chiropractic Health Clinic Limited to confer a benefit of N69,150,000 on you under the representation that the property located at No. 1 Tunbosun Osobu Street, Lekki, belonged to you and was leased to the company for a period of five years, a representation you knew to be false.”
The EFCC said this count is brought under the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act.
Count two, the statement said, accuses Nkiruka of dishonestly converting to her own use the same sum “being the property of Hope Chiropractic Health Clinic Limited, thereby committing an offence of stealing contrary to Section 280(2) and punishable under Section 287 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.”
The defendant pleaded “not guilty” when the charges were read to her.
Prosecuting counsel C.C. Okezie urged the court to proceed with arraignment, saying the defendant had been duly served, while defence counsel Nkama Nneka said service had only recently been effected.
Justice Oshodi ruled that arraignment should proceed in accordance with the law.
Okezie asked the court to remand Nkiruka in EFCC custody pending her scheduled arraignment before the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, on June 10, 2026, in a separate alleged fraud case.
The judge remanded her in EFCC custody and adjourned the matter until July 16, 2026, for hearing of the bail application and commencement of trial, the EFCC statement said.
The EFCC also said that in a related prosecution at the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Justice Dipeolu on Tuesday granted Nkiruka bail in the sum of ₦10 million with two sureties in like sum in a separate charge alleging N36 million fraud.
One surety must be a family member and provide proof of employment, BVN, NIN, a valid phone number, an international passport, two years’ tax clearance certificates and six passport photographs, the statement added.
The EFCC noted that the earlier arraignment concerned a two‑count charge of obtaining money by false pretence and stealing to the tune of N36 million.
