First Bank of Nigeria sacked over 100 employees in July 2024, four months after discovering that Tijani Muiz Adeyinka, a manager on the operations team, allegedly diverted ₦40 billion over two years. According to reports, Adeyinka, who is still on the run, used his authorisation to approve chargebacks to accounts he controlled.
Two people with direct
knowledge of the matter claimed that at least 120 employees, including
full-time and contract staff of First Bank’s large operations department, were
given termination letters in July. The head of transactions at the time was
also fired.
Those employees were accused of
laxity in carrying out their duties and were told they should have spotted the
fraud earlier. First Bank’s management team believed it was impossible for a
fraud of that scale and timeline to have been executed without the knowledge of
Adeyinka’s superiors.
“The CEO said there will be
zero tolerance for supervisory negligence,” said one First Bank employee who
asked not to be named so they could speak freely.
The alleged fraud in May,
showing how Adeyinka, who was the final line of authorisation on his team,
carried on his scheme unnoticed for two years. When the incident was discovered
in March, the bank tried to keep the matter under wraps, suspending several
operations team members indefinitely. However, First Bank became more
aggressive after the fraud became public.
Several employees were
questioned by the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) and detained at the Lion’s
Building for at least six hours, one person with direct knowledge of the
incident said. Those employees needed to post bail before they were released.
Restrictions have been placed on all their personal accounts except their First
Bank accounts.
First Bank did not immediately
respond to a request for comments.
The blast radius may have
extended farther. First Bank’s CEO at the time, Dr Adesola Adeduntan, abruptly
resigned in April, eight months before the end of his tenure and less than a
month after the fraud was uncovered. Adeduntan, who led First Bank for nine
years and “left to pursue other interests,” was initially replaced as CEO by
First Bank’s board in April 2021.
The Central Bank blocked that
move, claiming First Bank’s board acted without regulatory approval. It paved
the way for Dr Adeduntan to serve an unprecedented third term. One publication
claimed concerns over his tenure led to his resignation in April.
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