First Bank of Nigeria, once the pearl of banking, is now becoming a questionable financial institution with a mind-blowing fraud of N40bn from an insider rocking it to its foundation.
Amos Adetunji
First Bank of Nigeria is one of the biggest banks in Nigeria. It has maintained this enviable position with its huge asset base and expansive branch network,. However with its inability to reinvent itself as well as the industry faster enough to retain the market leadership it occupied for decades is the beginning of its pronlem . Now the bank is comfronted with battles from all fronts. Althouglh it survived the issue of its poor corporate governance that nearly claimed its going concern , till date it remains the least profitable and efficient bank among the tier 1 banks in Nigeria,playing a catch-up game
Unfortunately, First Bank of Nigeria, a bank with a market capitalization of N829 billion, is fast becoming a penetrable bank with weak security architecture, unprofessional work force and a management that is lackadaisical to its duties, particularly with regard to safeguarding depositors’ monies.The bank’s recent ordeal that is still making waves started a couple of months ago when it discovered that a certain Tijani Muiz Adeyinka, its Manager of Electronic Team, had successfully stolen N40 billion from the bank. Adeyinka, in spit spite of his apparently questionable character, was also saddled with the responsibility of handling transfer reversals. As a matter of fact, the final decision on reversals laid with him alone, instead of a team he led. But instead of ensuring that reversals were done properly, he started helping himself with depositors’ money by reversing everything to himself and his wife. From investigations available to this magazine, he diverted funds to a Zenith bank believed to be owned by his wife. For over two years, he succeeded in stealing N40 billion, undictated. To consolidate his criminality, he scattered the illicit funds to over 1,190 accounts and like a drunken sailor, used the remaining stolen money to buy crypto.
There is every indication that the crime would have continued undictated but for the intervention of a customer who complained. It was actually the complaint, prompted the bank’s internal review by its Control Unit that uncovered the unauthorized transactions. However, it is gratifying to note that the bank has already taken steps to block the said accounts in other banks. Between April 4 and April 8, 2024, First Bank obtained three orders to freeze hundreds of accounts suspected of receiving the diverted funds in different banks distributed by the bank thief. The accounts affected include but not limited to the 98 accounts classified as first beneficiaries, including the those belonging to Adeyinka’s wife and other second-tier accounts.
Part of the statement from the bank in relation to the fraud and its efforts in uncovering the its efforts in apprehending the culprits reads: “We hereby bring to your notice, the discovery of fraudulent transactions into various transactions within and outside the bank and request your offices to set up the machinery of investigation in place with a view to unravelling the circumstances surrounding the said fraud and getting the culprits to face the wrath of the law. A letter dated May 10, 2024, from First Bank to the Lagos State Commissioner of Police.
Now, Adeyinka, the bank robber, is on the run, and his whereabouts, remain unknown. But he has been declared wanted by the police. In a Special Police Gazzette sighted by Decisionmakers, Adeyinka is also wanted by the INTERPOL Section of the Force Criminal Investigation Department, FCID.
The run-away bank worker is facing criminal conspiracy. The Police gazette reads: “The above-named person is hereby declared wanted by the police for the offences criminal Conspiracy Criminal Breach of trust, Cheating and Banking Fraud with spurious transfers to different bank accounts. The offences were committed at First Bank of Nigeria Limited between 2016 and 25th March, 2024.” They have therefore asked the general public to assist the police in apprehending the fugitive if seen anywhere. The statement from the Police continues: “If seen, arrest and hand over to the nearest Police station or the office of the AIG INTERPOL, National Central Bureau, INTERPOL Section of Force Criminal Investigation Department, FCID, Force CID Complex, Area 10, Garki, Abuja.”
A warrant of his arrest has also been issued by a Federal High Court in Abuja.
It is very sad that First Bank of Nigeria Holding, FBNH, is steadily gaining notoriety for sharp practices and outright fraud in this age and time. Regularly, customers and depositors are fleeced, and this should be a major cause of worry for this bank that once held attraction across age, sext and geographical location. Recently at its Akute, Ogun State, branch, a customer narrowly escaped one of the well-known tricks that is currently associated with First Bank workers. According to the customer, he received a spurious alert and discovered that his account was in negative when it was supposed to be the other way round. So, he quickly raised the alarm, and ran to the bank only to be told that it was an error. They told him that his money was intact. He heaved a sigh of relief and went home, a happy man. But it is now very clear that this is one of the ways some smart and fraudulent staff of the bank raise the alarm and fly a kite. And if there is no reaction, they would quickly begin their process of fleecing people of their had earned monies.
The mess in Nigeria’s financial sector right now, is troubling. Recently, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, decaled wanted, some members of staff of First City Monument Bank, FCMB over an alleged multi-million-naira fraud. Already, the Police have decaled wanted, the bank’s staff believed to be involved in the case like Linda Natufe Chekwube, Mathew Akpan, Juwon Faromoh, Oluwasoji Ajetumobi, Ogunlaja Olasukanm Ganiyu, Oshiojum Chibuzor Wilson, Akanaga Christian Chika, Nelson Omuzagha, and Adeyemi Omitogun. At the moment, the Nigeria Police has secured an arrest of the suspects, some of whom are on the run. And their offence? They are accused of duping depositors of their hard-earned money through numerous fraudulent processes. For instance, Chekwube and Ogulana were found guilty of allegedly authorizing overdraft, totaling three hundred and eight million naira (N388 million.) There are reports that also indicted another set of bankers that transferred customers monies to other accounts and closed such accounts without the consent or authorization of the account holders. Only recently, Adejare Sonde, another staff of a bank (now relieved of his job) was arraigned on a 12-count charge for allegedly stealing N124 million of depositors’ money. And this has already been instituted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, at a state High Court sitting in Abeokuta, Ogun State. Sonde, who is currently standing trail for using his position as account officer at a Micro-finance Bank to steal N124 million is a typical example of how brazen bank workers in Nigeria have become.
The unfortunate part of this tragic story in many banks in Nigeria is that this traumatizing tale of stealing and disruption is widespread. There is also the story of two bank officials identified as Walter Ekomaye and Ebenezer Adelowo, persons who were arraigned on January 19, 2018 for allegedly making illegal withdrawals of N23 million from customers accounts. Unfortunately, this is now a way of life in some banks, and everyone is worried, including the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN. Between May 29, 2012 and March 31, 2013, the apex bank recovered over N8.6 billion from banks that had milked their customers. This shocking discovery followed CBN’s receipt of over 2,800 complaints from customers of many banks.
Another angle to this sordid story in our financial institutions is that bank workers within the various banks do not usually act alone. They have now perfected the art of involving outsiders as a way of making their nefarious activities, seamless. This is already well-known as outsiders are now part of some fraudulent practices in both the banking hall and outside. And some of banks have also deployed the use SMS charges to make illegal incomes by making multiple SMS alert charges for the same transactions.
The truth is that the activities in some Nigeria banks today, are depressing. And, many people are beginning to reconsider banking as an option. Again, the recent fraudulent activities at First Bank have highlighted the concerns about the prevalence of bank staff in the robberies going on in banks. The release of data and analysis of fraud and forgeries recently by FITC gives credence to this ugly development. The information revealed that out of the 270 bank staff members involved in various acts of fraud in 2023, only 54 faced terminations of employment. This marked a decrease from the 22 per cent termination rate of the previous year. Like every other person, FITC is worried about the indifference and laxity of banks in enforcing strict punitive measures against erring officials in their midst. Naturally, this lackadaisical attitude raises unanswered questions about the commitment of banks to combating corruption and ensuring safety and integrity in banking operations. Only recently, two regulatory agencies revealed with dismay, how a thieving bank manager, a few years ago, pounced on a dormant account of a customer and did violence to it. According to the report, the said customer had a healthy credit history of over 15 years but for some reasons, he had not used the account for some time. This obviously gave him away, a situation that emboldened the dishonest banker who swung into action. First, he got the bank’s letterhead paper and other supporting documents and applied for a loan of N200 million. Unknown to the approving authority, he pushed the loan at a credit meeting at the bank’s headquarters and got approval. After receiving the illicit fund, the banker in question, started living large, but he was also smart enough to settle his key colleagues who could blow the lid off the fraud. However, his supervisor found his new lifestyle suspicious and disturbing. So, he kept an eye on him. Eventually, the bank found out, and on the day he was to be arrested in his house, he was tipped off by a friend, and that was how he escaped to the United States because he already had a valid visa. Till today, the bank is still frantically searching for him.
The absurdities in the name of fraud going on in some banks today in Nigeria should worry everyone, particularly the government. Once upon a time, depositors felt safe with their money in banks because such banks had sophisticated security systems and technologies that guarded against theft and fraud. Banks also had honest workers and internal control measures that made it almost impossible for fraud to take place. All these, according to Joseph Nwachukwu, an ex-banker are now history. “I think Nigerians should stop behaving like the ostrich that buries its head in the sand even when its entire heavy body mass is outside and visible. You want me to tell that Nigeria has happened to our banks? Let me tell you that some of the Yahoo Boys that we are always quick to call out have also found their ways into our bank. That is the truth, and the earlier we come to terms with our reality, the better for us. And let me shock you, the fraud you see in the banks and other high places have only just begun. Unless we fix our country, these abnormalities would continue.”
This endless story of fraud and malfeasance once resonated some years ago in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city when five Nigerians went on trial for swindling $242 million from a Brazilian bank for the construction of a fictitious airport in Abuja. When the case was opened, the prosecutors described it as “the world’s single biggest Advance Fee Fraud scam.) The five defendants, a housewife, a lawyer and Emmanuel Nwude, believed to be a businessman and a former Director of Union Bank, the second largest bank in Nigeria, all pleaded not-guilty. They were all accused of tricking an employee of Banco Noroeste, a commercial bank in San Paulo, the commercial capital of Brazil. It will be recalled that the major incentive for the Brazilian bank worker was a promise to pay him a personal commission of $13 million on the deal. The case is still on-going. The involvement of a former bank director and other supposed responsible citizens, shows that Nigeria is indeed, in for a very long time with cases of bank robbery. Except something is done urgently, this vexed issue of fraud, as disgraceful as it is, may continue unabated.
