According to SaharaReporters, a Federal High Court in Lagos on Friday remanded a Nigerian blogger and publisher of online news medium...
According to SaharaReporters, a Federal
High Court in Lagos on Friday remanded a Nigerian blogger and publisher
of online news medium Secrets Reporters, Tega Oghenedoro aka “Fejiro Oliver”,
and a former staff in the Customer Care Department of Sterling
Bank-turned whistle-blower, Mr. Dennis Ukpabi, in Ikoyi Prison for
publishing articles online which exposed a massive fraud at the
Corporate Headquarters of the bank between 2014 and 2015.
Justice Mohammed Idris, who is presiding
over the case, ordered that both men be remanded in prison after the
Nigeria Police Force arraigned them on a five-count charge bothering on
alleged acts of “Cyber Stalking” punishable under the provisions of
Section 24 of the Cyber Crimes (Prohibition and Prevention, etc.) Act
2015.
However, frantic efforts by lawyers representing the two defendants to persuade the court to admit them to bail.
Human rights attorney, Inibehe Effiong,
informed the court that the police ambushed the defendants and arraigned
surreptitiously without proper and adequate notice.
“This Information was filed on April
6th, 2017 and contrary to the provisions of Section 390 of the
Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015, which makes it mandatory
for the defendants to be served with the notice of trial not less than
seven days before their arraignment,” Effiong submitted.
In his response, the trial judge, Justice
Mohammed Idris asked the defendants’ counsel to bring a formal
application for bail and promised to hear it expeditiously.
In November 2014, Sterling Bank Plc. introduced a “Deposit Mobilization Scheme” for
its entire staff as an incentive to encourage them to source and
mobilize deposits from members of the public, promising to reward the
most outstanding staff who sourced the highest amount of deposit above
the given target with a brand new Ford SUV and 1% of the total sum
realized.
According to Mr. Dennis Ukpabi who chronicled what he termed “The Deposits Mobilization Fraud” in
his recently published book “The WhistleBlower,” four staff at the
corporate headquarters of Sterling Bank Plc. namely: Adekanla Desalu,
Eguru Nyenke, Janet Akpan and Kojusola Ajao colluded and conspired to
defraud the bank by pulling together deposits into an account belonging
to one of them, Kojusola Ajao. He also stated in his book that the four
named staff had “tracked” funds from dormant accounts belonging to
existing customers of the bank in Ajao’s name in other to win the prize.
Ukpabi had joined Sterling Bank in
November 2011 and resigned in protest on April 29, 2016, after which he
exposed the fraud by sending several anonymous emails to the bank on the
illegal act while demanding disciplinary action.
Ms. Ajao was announced by the bank as the
winner of the Deposits Mobilization Scheme and on March 10, 2015, and
awarded with the sum of N997,000.00 which was about 1% of the total
amount mobilized and also given a brand new Ford SUV. Immediately she
received the money, she transferred and shared it among her three other
colleagues. Desalu received N269, 250.00; Nyenke got N240,000.00 while
Akpan received N238,500.00 as her share.
Following several emails sent to
different management staffs of the bank by the whistleblower, the bank’s
Audit Department was asked to investigate the alleged fraud, upon which
the four staff were found culpable, leading to Ajao’s sack and the
retrieval of the Ford Jeep from her.
Although the three others were placed on
three-month suspension, Nyenke was promoted immediately after serving
her suspension, a development linked to her alleged amorous affair with
the bank’s Executive Director in charge of Operations and Services,
Yemi Odubiyi.
Upon the discovery that Ukpabi was behind
the anonymous emails that exposed the bank fraud, the authorities
denied him his due promotion and prevented him from embarking on a Sick
Leave for which he duly applied. The situation eventually led to his
resignation and publishing of the “The Whistle Blower.”
When the fraud was reported by Secrets
Reporters owned by Oghenedoro, who is popularly known as Fejiro Oliver,
the affected staff of the bank wrote a petition to the Deputy Inspector
General of Police in charge of the Force Criminal Investigation
Department in Abuja, alleging “threat to life, malicious publication and
defamation of character”.
Curiously, however, the Police did not
investigate the alleged fraud in the bank but instead arrested Ukpabi
and Oghenedoro and charged them to court for Cyber Stalking.
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