Pastor alleges mobile bank of freezing account without authorisation and denial of access to over ₦100m deposit
Khalid ABRAHAM
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An Ogbomoso-based cleric, Pastor Olalude Adesoye Gabriel, has petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over allegations of “some fraudulent activities” in his account and denial of “access to my account or make any transaction on it,” against a fintech, Opay Digital Services Ltd.
Formerly Paycom Nigeria Limited, Opay is a fintech mobile money operating company founded by Zhou Yahui in 2013 with headquarters in Ikeja, Lagos state, and licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria in 2018. It is among the four major fintech companies in Nigeria. Others are Moniepoint Inc., Kuda, and PalmPay.
The petition, under the auspices of AGVDED GLOBAL VENTURES, Aaje area, Ogbomoso, Oyo state, addressed to the Zonal Commander of EFCC, Ibadan, dated March 19, 2024, and titled, “Petition against Opay Bank,” states: “Sometimes on 10th of March, 2024, I observed some fraudulent activities of my OPAY with Account Number: 7033352388 which was frozen by the bank and denied me access to my account or make any transaction on it. So many complaint were lodged to unfreeze my account and to allow normal transaction to take place but all to no avail. I have the total balance of Over One Hundred Million Naira Plus (₦100,000,000+) in the account. I was asked to do Affidavit as regarding the arrangement of my name before allowing me access to my account which I did but all effort made to access my account and to carry out normal transaction proved abortive.
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“I hereby request your good office in recovering of my account and to carry out my transaction and to regain my account total balance.
“Thanks in anticipation for recovery.”
The petitioner told ogbomosoinsightonline.com that he first opened an account with the bank about six years ago after being encouraged by a friend. “I have an investment with Opay, but they started to fix my account in a special investment account called O’Wealth. They did this unilaterally without my consent, l didn’t initiate it. I was told interest would be be attracted every day. But at the end of the first year l couldn’t access my account to withdraw money or do transactions, though the account had grown through more deposits and accumulated interests.”
He said the bank decided to re-fix the money again without him being consulted or extracting his consent.
Pastor Gabriel further explained, “They asked me to upgrade the account into a merchant account which l did, but they didn’t unfreeze the account. I did CAC registration as requested, l linked with the account but all to no avail, they continue to re-fix the account, and so, l couldn’t access the account.”
He said rather than his account being unfrozen, he started receiving OTP (One-Time Password) through SMS and Facebook messenger asking him to dictate the OTP numbers but he declined the instruction.
When he still couldn’t access or make transactions on the account he petitioned the Oyo State Anti-Corruption Agency (OYACA) which asked him to rather contact the EFCC.
He re-directed the petition to the EFCC office which invited him. He went to the Ibadan office but he was asked to come back with evidences and to meet with the Opay representative. He went back with evidences of his claims but the Opay officer reportedly responded it had to be taken up by the headquarters in Lagos.
Regrettably however, EFCC he disclosed had refused to invite him again and that calls he made to the officer who handled the matter were unanswered. “My numbers l discovered are being put in blacklist,” he alleged.
Opay he insisted had not made any redress and his account containing over ₦100m is still inaccessible to him.
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Ogbomoso Insight reached out to the investigation officer handling the case at the Ibadan branch office of the EFCC, but she said the “complainant had been advised to approach the court that it is a civil matter.”
Opay could not be reached as the contact service number called was of little help.
In the meantime, Pastor Olalude Adesoye Gabriel, a clergyman with the Baptist denomination, a poultry farmer and real estate agent is still battling to get his account unfrozen so he could access the money there. Asked if he still makes deposit into the account he answered in the affirmative “so that they don’t say the account is dormant.”
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