The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested a 30-year-old businessman, Onwughalu Chikodi Godwin, over allegations that he defrauded a vegetable oil processing company of goods valued at more than N30.8 million.
The suspect was arrested by operatives of the EFCC’s Enugu Zonal Directorate following a petition filed by Bro-kenn Agro Allied Industries, a company involved in the refining and processing of vegetable oil.
According to the company, Godwin, who was one of its major customers, allegedly conspired with other persons still at large to steal vegetable oil worth N30,853,800 from its facility between January 2024 and May 2025.
Counsel to the company, Dr. Mazi Udegbulem, alleged that the suspect and his associates manipulated the firm’s weighbridge system in order to conceal the theft of large quantities of oil.
He explained that the company’s loading process requires vehicles to be weighed before and after oil is loaded, with the difference in weight determining the quantity of product collected.
“The practice in the company is that if a vehicle is coming in to lift oil which has been paid for by a customer, it must be inspected at the entrance of the company and weight determined at the weighbridge,” Udegbulem said.
He added that after the vehicle is loaded, it is weighed again to determine the exact amount of oil taken from the facility.
According to the lawyer, investigations revealed that the suspect allegedly filled several jerry cans with water before arriving at the factory, using the additional weight to manipulate weighbridge readings.
He claimed that after entering the facility, the water would be emptied and the containers refilled with vegetable oil, allowing the suspects to leave with more product than they had paid for.
Udegbulem said the company became suspicious of the scheme in May 2025 and subsequently placed its operations on heightened monitoring.
He alleged that during one visit in June 2025, Godwin arrived with a Sienna bus carrying 115 jerry cans, despite having paid for only one tonne of oil, an amount that would ordinarily require about 63 containers.
“By coming with 115 gallons, Godwin was aware that 115 gallons would be too much for the one tonne of oil which he paid for, but he put in the extra gallons because he already had a plan to steal oil from the factory,” he alleged.
The company further claimed that 40 of the jerry cans were discovered to have been filled with water during an inspection carried out before loading.
According to Udegbulem, the difference between the vehicle’s weight before and after the water was removed amounted to 960 kilograms, which he said corresponded to the quantity of oil allegedly intended to be fraudulently obtained.
“The market value of 960kg of oil then was N2,496,000 and this is approximately what the company loses on each trip Godwin visited the factory to buy oil between January 2024 and May 2025,” he said.
Preliminary findings by the EFCC reportedly suggest that the suspect and his alleged accomplices gained the trust of the company before exploiting that relationship to carry out the scheme.
The anti-graft agency said investigations are ongoing and noted that the suspect will be charged in court upon the conclusion of its inquiries.