The Federal High Court in Lagos has sentenced a bureau de change operator, Dabo Ardi, to two months’ imprisonment for engaging in foreign exchange transactions outside the official market.
Justice F.N. Ogazi convicted Ardi on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to a one-count charge filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The judge, however, gave him an option of paying a fine of ₦80,000.
According to a statement by the EFCC’s Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, Ardi was prosecuted for conducting an illegal foreign exchange transaction.
The charge alleged that sometime in 2026 in Lagos, Ardi engaged in a foreign exchange transaction outside the official foreign exchange market, contrary to Section 11(1)(a) of the National Economic Intelligence Committee (Establishment, etc.) Act, 1994, and punishable under Section 11(2) of the same law.
When the charge was read to him, Ardi pleaded guilty.
Following his plea, prosecution counsel, S.I. Suleiman, reviewed the facts of the case and urged the court to convict and sentence him accordingly.
Justice Ogazi found him guilty and sentenced him to two months’ imprisonment, with an option of ₦80,000 fine.
The conviction is the latest in a series of cases involving bureau de change operators prosecuted by the EFCC before the Federal High Court in Lagos over foreign exchange transactions conducted outside the official market.
On July 31, another judge of the court, Justice Akintayo Aluko, sentenced four BDC operators — Umar Muhammad Lamido, Yusuf Musa Yusuf, Abdulmuhimin Mahmud and Muhammed Musa — to 12 months’ imprisonment each for similar offences.
Each of the convicts was also given an option of ₦100,000 fine after pleading guilty to separate one-count charges filed by the EFCC under Section 11(1)(a) of the 1994 Act.
In another similar case, the EFCC prosecuted a BDC operator, Faruk Umar, in 2025.
Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke of the Federal High Court in Lagos sentenced Umar in February 2025 to six months’ imprisonment, with an option of ₦50,000 fine.
The EFCC said Umar was arrested in August 2024 around the Eko Hotel area of Victoria Island, Lagos, alongside other suspected illegal BDC operators.
During the trial, an EFCC investigating officer, Hamisu Sanni, told the court that Umar admitted buying and selling foreign currency without a Central Bank of Nigeria licence.
The court also heard that a forensic examination of Umar’s phone revealed more than 40 conversations relating to foreign exchange transactions with other individuals.
Justice Aneke ordered Umar’s phone forfeited to the Federal Government.
