A Federal High Court in Lagos has granted bail of N50 million each to Timothy Oluwabukola and Anthony Odemerho, students of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic and Resign Regal Academy, respectively, who allegedly hacked into MTN Nigeria’s computers, stealing airtime and data valued at N1.9 billion.

Justice Akintayo Aluko granted the bail after hearing separate applications filed by the defendants. Besides the bail sum, each defendant must provide two sureties: one a civil servant in Federal or Lagos State employment at grade level 14 or above, and the other a landed property owner within the court’s jurisdiction.

The civil servant must present a reference letter from their workplace and a letter of their last promotion. Both sureties must swear an affidavit of means, and the defendants must submit two recent passport photographs to the court registrar. The prosecution is tasked with verifying all documents and residential addresses of the sureties.

The court ordered that the defendants be remanded in the Correctional Centre until they meet the bail conditions. Oluwabukola and Odemerho were arraigned on July 30, 2024, by the Police Special Fraud Unit on four counts of conspiracy, unauthorized access to MTN’s web-based platform, and unlawful conversion.

The prosecution, led by Justine Enang, stated that the defendants, along with others still at large, committed the offences between January and April 2024 in Lagos and Edo States.

The alleged crimes violate sections of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act, 2015 as amended in 2024, and the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.

Both defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges. The court set the trial date for August 5, 2024, after the defence lawyer requested a hearing for the bail applications, which the prosecutor acknowledged receiving during the proceedings.