The Inspector General of Police (IG), Kayode Egbetokun, has been tasked by Chief Aloysius E. Ezenduka of Lagos to look into the purported N20 billion sale of his client’s business assets by Mr. Emmanuel Adeyeye Oyebanji, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), who was appointed as Receiver/Manager by CSL Trustees Limited on behalf of First City Monument Bank after a N350 million loan dispute.
Ezenduka asked the police chief to step in and look into “a case of criminal conversion, stealing, and selling of the asset worth over N20 billion” that belonged to his clients, Chief Anthony Obidulu and his business, Algrain Foods Limited, which is situated at Nos. 15–17 Canal Avenue, Canal Estate, Okota, Lagos. The petition was dated January 7, 2024.
“Managing director Chief Obidulu oversees Algrain Foods Limited, a pasta and noodle manufacturer.”
The petitioner claimed that the SAN and FCMB’s actions were unacceptable because there are currently four court proceedings pending and trials underway: two at the Lagos Appeal Court (CA/L/CV/1021/2021 and CA/L/CV/1024/2021) and two at the Lagos State High Court.
Chief Obidulu filed two cases in the Lagos State High Court: one against Emmanuel Adeyeye Oyebanji and First City Monument Bank Plc, and the other against Emmanuel Adeyeye Oyebanji and First Bank Limited for trespassing upon his land.
He pointed out that, despite the fact that these cases are still pending and unresolved, Oyebanji, working with the managing director of First City Monument Bank Plc, has been quietly selling all of the assets—including cars, large machinery, and merchandise stored in the warehouse—worth billions of naira in response to an alleged appeals court ruling that FCMB owed the pitiful sum of N350 million. However, the audit report has demonstrated that the company is not indebted to the bank or anybody else.
“The Court of Appeal on October 10, 2023, allowed the petitioner to bring in document that showed that the purported loan in respect of which Adeyeye and FCMB procured court order is actually a Federal Government Small and Medium Enterprises Credit Guarantee Scheme (SMECGS), which is guaranteed 80 percent by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and which FCMB has never redeemed before procuring court order with fraudulent documents,” the petitioner claims.
Ezenduka applied to the Inspector General (IG) to “investigate these acts of forgery, alteration, procurement and concealment of documents for the purpose of obtaining an order of court illegally; conversion, stealing, and selling of goods belonging to Chief Obidulu and Algrain Foods Limited by Emmanuel Adeyeye, Oyebanji (SAN), and FCMB,” among other things, because he was concerned about the actions of the Senior Advocate of Nigeria and FCMB. Examine Oyebanji’s reluctance to provide the Corporate Affairs Commission and the Board of Directors of Algrain Foods Limited with an account of the alleged receivership, as required by law. Examine Oyebanji and the managing director of FCMB’s alleged sales, conversion, and diversion of the revenues from those alleged sales of the assets.
“Recover all the assets that Oyebanji and FCMB allegedly sold or pilfered, and place them in safe custody until the courts decide the parties’ legal rights.”
“Investigate the mobile police officers that Oyebanji and FCMB hired to help them evacuate property at odd hours since December of last year, when the Court of Appeal rendered a favorable decision in favor of Obidulu and his company in Appeal No. CA/L/CV/1021/2021, and prosecute the two if a prima facie case is established against them upon completion of the investigation.”
