How alleged Ecobank breaches could land CBN in legal trouble

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has drawn the ire of a lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) over his comments on a petition accusing Ecobank Nigeria (ENG) and Ecobank Transnational Inc. Specialized Resolutions Company (ETISRC) of wrongdoing in a matter that also involves Wilben Trade (Wilben), and its CEO, Marcus Wade.

Wilben and Wade have issued a press release to draw attention to their petition, and to inform that the CBN has promised to investigate allegations of misconduct against ENG and ETISRC. But in a swift reaction, the CBN has labeled the press release as fake and disassociated itself from it.

The central bank, which posted a photo of the press release on its social media accounts, including X (formerly known as Twitter) and Instagram, said, “This information is misleading and is not affiliated with the Central Bank of Nigeria. Please be aware!”

However, Wilben Trade’s lawyer, Lateef Omoyemi Akangbe (SAN) Partner, Sofunde Osakwe Ogundipe & Belgore Legal Practitioners, has come down hard on the CBN and asked the central bank to retrace its steps and remove the denial post from all its social media handles.

Akangbe said:
“Our attention has been drawn to social media posts by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly known as Twitter) branding a press release issued by us, on behalf of our client, as fake.

“Nothing contained in this release is false or misleading. In fact, following a letter addressed to the CBN on 22 July 2024 regarding the highly questionable conduct of Ecobank Nigeria, ETI Specialized Resolution Company Limited and its Managing Director, Dele Alabi, we received an acknowledgement from the CBN that the complaint had been forwarded to Ecobank, and that the outcome of the engagement would be communicated to us as soon as possible.”

The advisor who warned of legal consequences for the CBN further noted that the CBN, as the regulator of the country’s financial system, is obligated to ensure that corruption or issues that could undermine the sector are thoroughly investigated and resolved.

READ ALSO: CBN investigates alleged breaches against EcoBank

“As the national banking regulator, the CBN is obligated to investigate matters that could undermine the integrity of the Nigerian financial system, in line with its mandate to “promote a sound financial system in Nigeria”.

“In response to CBN’s misleading social media posts, we have formally requested a full retraction, as labeling our press release as fake is incorrect and constitutes defamation. Failure to do so may result in legal action.”

The senior lawyer noted in his response to the CBN’s head of corporate communications that the press release issued on behalf of his client was not “purported to have been issued by, or for, the Central Bank of Nigeria. The press release does not claim to be affiliated with the Central Bank of Nigeria”.

English: Meanwhile, asserting that the contents of the document are factually correct, Akangbe disclosed that through a letter dated July 22, 2024, “we wrote, on behalf of our client, a letter to the Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability Directorate of the Central Bank of Nigeria to complain about the conduct of Ecobank Nigeria, ETI Specialized Resolution Company Limited and its Managing Director, Mr. Oladele Alabi.

“In response to this, we received an email on 26 July 2024 from the CPDComplaintsMgt of the Central Bank of Nigeria, with the email address cpd@cbn.gov.ng, informing us that the complaint had been forwarded to Ecobank, and that the outcome of the “engagement” with Ecobank would be communicated to us as soon as possible.

“The press release in question relates to this matter and is factually accurate.
Based on the above, marking the document as “FAKE” is incorrect and constitutes defamation. Therefore, we demand that the post be withdrawn and deleted.

When contacted, a source at CBN who spoke on condition of anonymity had told Ripples Nigeria, “yes, we have received a complaint against Ecobank, and it is being investigated. I am not sure, but I think we have written to the lawyers for that”.

The findings show that the problems started in 2021 after Ecobank Nigeria through ETISRC filed a case against Wilben and Mr Wade complaining that the company suffered losses in 2014/15. However, Wilben claims that the actions of ENG and ETISRC have caused significant financial and reputational losses.
ENG said its losses resulted from loan transactions with long-standing customers, Agrico Agbe Limited and an associated company, Little Rose Trading LLC.

It was gathered that after attempts to recover the losses from the original customers failed, ETISRC tried to recover them from Mr. Wade and Wilben who acted as guarantors for the loans.

Speaking further on the matter, Akangbe asserted that by investigating the allegations against ENG and ETISRC, the CBN would be sending a clear indication that it is willing to act within its mandate to promote a sound financial system and eradicate corruption across the financial industry.

“As a major player in the industry, any allegations of corruption or unethical behaviour by Ecobank Nigeria must be dealt with in accordance with the law,” he said.

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