The House of Representatives committee on Public Petitions has ordered the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun to arrest Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ecobank Nigeria over and allegation of fraudulent operations of a customer of the bank.
The committee is investigating an alleged illegal and fraudulent operation of the personal account of one Grace Nwamina, a customer of the bank.
Jibril Lawal, MD, Ecobank
Expressing dissatisfaction over the handling of the matter by the bank, the Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Mike Etaba directed that the managing director be brought in person on September 17, 2024 so the matter can be resolved permanently. He noted that the police report on the case indicted the bank on several grounds and it is only the MD that can guarantee its resolution.
In a related development, the committee also, ordered a full scale probe of Oxford Group of Companies over accusations of serially defrauding Nigerians who fall for their call for investment gimmicks.
Narrating the ordeal of over five hundred unsuspecting investors who have been allegedly defrauded, one Olamilekan Akinduro on behalf of the aggrieved investors, lamented that well advertised public offers of juicy investment portfolios by Oxford International Group which most Nigerians fell for since 2021 has turned out to be a scam as the company could not meet up with the promised investments after several years of turning investors around.
He informed the house that the Executive Chairman of the group who used to be known as Teni Adesanya has surreptitiously changed his name to Babatunde Adesanya.
Akinduro told the committee that most of the investors had invested over fifty million each without a trace of their investments. Sensing a wide spread scam of innocent Nigerians, the committee chairman, Etaba after hearing the matter on Tuesday ordered that Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and other relevant law enforcement agencies be involved in the investigation.
Reacting to the allegations, Segun Akinloye, Counsel to the Oxford Group said his client was paying people on daily basis but pointed out that the matter was sub judice hence he couldn’t speak much on it.
The committee adjourned the to September 18, 2024 for further hearing.