Crime
Zenith Bank in messy loan scandal as Ekiti Commissioner cries out
By NGIJ team of Oluwasegun Abifarin and Olawale Abideen
After gleefully announcing a gross earnings of 166.
adsbygoogle || []).push({}); 8 billion naira and a Profit Before Tax of 58.8 billion for the first quarter of 2020, Zenith Bank Plc has slipped into a scandal splashed on it by its branch in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti state.Mrs Olajumoke Owoola, a Commissioner in the Ekiti State Teaching Service Commission, TESCOM is crying for help over a loan snare laid for her by EKSU branch of Zenith Bank in Ekiti State.
Her ordeal actually began on December 22nd, 2019 when one Mr. Olusegun Aribisala, a relationship manager with bank approached the Commissioner to move her salary account from Union Bank to his Zenith Bank with a promise of a N3 million loan to the deal.
An excited Owoola informed her Chairman at TESCOM, Honourable Babatunde Abegunde and her other colleagues, such as Yetunde Adamu and Hon. Bayo Akerele of the Board of Technical Education; Hon. Idowu Ayegbe and Mr. Osuolale Olorunnisola, a fellow Commissioner in TESCOM.
Banking on Aribisala’s assurance that the loan processes will be through in three days after moving their accounts to Zenith Bank, Owoola and her friends swallowed the bait.
No sooner had they move the accounts, that Aribisala started a discordant tune: First, he told Owoola that the three days was not realistic again, since her January salary was yet to enter the account. The second story was that she should go and collect a letter of authorization from her office.
Owoola and her friends complied and dropped the letters and all other documents. Yet, Owoola maintained that “the story keeps on changing.”
Almost two months later, Aribisala brought another excuse that there was a machine error in his office and thereafter brought another set of forms for Owoola and her friends to fill.
This was followed by another request that they should all pay N55, 000 for processing, and gave a personal account (Omolara Aribisala) for them to pay to. “All of us paid into the account,” Owoola told our correspondent.
After this, Aribisala’s assurance that the loan will be ready in another one month did not materialized, a development which forced Owoola’s colleague, Ayegbe to pull out of the arrangement and went back to his Union Bank.
Frustrated, Owoola later went to the Ekiti State University, EKSU branch of the bank to report Aribisala to the Branch manager, Mrs. Olaore Okunola.
Coincidentally, her Boss, the TESCOM Chairman met her there, but Okunola continued to beg and plead with them. “The woman begged and pleaded without making any commitment, after which she gave me a pack of fruit juice and gave a bottle of wine to my boss,” Owoola said.
The Commissioner later called the Zenith Bank’s Lagos office to narrate her ordeal. “But Ayoola Kusimo, the man who spoke to me from the bank’s corporate communications department merely begged me not to go the press and promised to call Ekiti branch..and till today, nothing has happened,” she maintained.
Owoola later decided to go to the bank’s online platform to complain as well, but she merely got an email reply that only her account manager can talk to her…and nobody has talked to her since then. “My effort on the bank’s Facebook account merely raised my fraud antenna, when the person chatting with me was asking for my PIN..and I backed off,” Owoola said.
Now the commissioner is crying for justice to get her loan and if not, a refund of her N55, 000 “processing fee” paid to Aribisala.
When our correspondent called Kusimo on May 6, 2020, the excuse was that bank was just resuming after the Coronavirus lock down and that he had contacted the Ekiti branch which had promised to sort out the problem in ten days.
Twenty days after, it was angry Owoola that sent wattsapp message on May 27, to inform us that nothing had been done about it. According to her, “I was about to call you at dawn when I saw your message. You can go ahead please. I care less again.”
Before the recent controversy, Zenith bank has run into a wild storm of controversy brewed from its IGR collection activities in far-away Niger State.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, the nation’s anti-graft body has been alerted that Bank is in a mud of a N359.2 million IGR controversy in Niger state.
Before the misadventure in Niger State, the same bank has been dressed in similar robe in Nasarawa State where forensic investigation assessed that it withheld about N176.2 million due to the state.
Crime
Kebbi NSCDC Arrests 38 Year Old Man For Alleged Defilement of 8-year-old girl
The Kebbi State Command of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has arrested a 38-year-old man whose identity was yet to be revealed for allegedly defiling an 8-year-old girl in Fana village, Dandi Local Government Area of Kebbi. adsbygoogle || []).push({});
The Secretary of Kebbi Technical Working Group on Gender-Based Violence (GBV), Mr Nasir Idris, confirmed this in a statement made available to the NAN in Birnin Kebbi on Saturday, September 26, 2026.
Idris explained that the incident was reported at the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Kamba, on Wednesday.
“Today, the Technical Working Group on Gender-Based Violence (TWG on GBV), through its Gender Officer in Kamba, Abbas Sa’adu, received a report from Fana community, Dandi Local Government Area, concerning the alleged defilement of an 8-year-old minor by a 38-year-old man.
“The matter was reported by the survivor’s parents to the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Kamba, where necessary information was obtained,” he said.
Idris said the survivor was subsequently taken to Mai Talle Tara Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC), Kalgo, for medical examination and documentation, including the issuance of a medical report.
The secretary added that the NSCDC thereafter proceeded with the alleged perpetrator to the NSCDC Kebbi Command for detention and further legal procedures.
“However, upon arrival, the suspect reportedly complained of ill health, and the officers declined to detain him until he was medically examined.
“The suggestion that the survivor’s parents should bear the medical expenses was rejected by TWG on GBV members, as such responsibility should not be imposed on the survivor’s family,” he revealed.
Idris said that following discussions to resolve the matter, the Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Mr Nura Fingilla, took responsibility for the medical expenses, particularly as no relative of the suspect was available.
He disclosed that the medical examination subsequently established that there was no serious medical condition.
The secretary said the NSCDC officers assured the TWG on GBV that the suspect would be charged to court for further legal proceedings.
He said the TWG on GBV respectfully advised the NSCDC Kebbi Command to make appropriate use of its medical unit/health facility for the preliminary examination of suspects who report minor health complaints.
Idris added that the GBV technical team believed that such action would help to save time and resources and ensure that cases involving vulnerable survivours were not unnecessarily delayed.
Crime
Olukoyede Charges Faith Leaders T Fight Corruption With Moral Dignity of Honest Living
Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes commission, EFCC, Ola Olukoyede, is calling on Religious leaders across the country to continually preach the right religious doctrine to their followers, especially those that pertain to corruption and its ills on the society.
adsbygoogle || []).push({});Olukoyede gave the charge in Abuja on Wednesday, September 23, 2026, at the 2026 second Council Meeting of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council, NIREC, and the launch of the Anti-Corruption Interfaith Manual for religious leaders.
The EFCC boss while presenting his paper stated that the theme of the event “Shared Sacred Flourishing in Nigeria,” demands that stakeholders in the anti-corruption fight must recognize that the wellbeing of Nigerians is dependent on the actions of individual citizens and that acts of corruption create division in the shared flourishing. As such, one of the most consequential contributions religious leaders can make to shared sacred flourishing, he said, is to restore the moral dignity of honest living.
Corruption, he regretted, “Privatizes what is shared, converts the commonwealth into private advantage, and allows one person to flourish by making many others poorer adding that the unique role of the EFCC, therefore, is to defend the integrity of that commonwealth.”
According to him, by preaching the right religious doctrines, both Christianity and Islam can retain their distinctive beliefs and traditions while their adherents work together for peace, justice, human dignity and the wellbeing of our nation.
To ensure that worship centres play transformational roles in the lives of Nigerians, the EFCC boss disclosed that the Commission began tasking religious leaders on the need to infuse anti-corruption contents in their messages to their followers. “We have been doing this through the inter-faith framework. Over the years, we have specifically spelt out what should be the roles of religious leaders and the doctrine they need to pass down to their followers. We believe that no religion condones corruption and no faith entertains fraudulent engagements,” he stated.
Further in the endeavour, he disclosed that the EFCC over the years engaged leaders of both the Christian and Muslim faiths in fashioning an Inter-Faith Manual which captures the doctrinal positions of holy books on corruption.
“We are using this opportunity to launch the Manual which we hope our religious leaders will surely find useful in preaching anti-corruption messages to their members,” he said.
Speaking on the non-discriminatory nature and effects of corruption and financial crimes, he stated that “financial crime has no religion. Corruption has no tribe. Fraud does not become Christian or Muslim because of the identity of the person accused of committing it. When public money is stolen, both Christians and Muslims suffer. A badly equipped hospital does not first ask a dying patient where he worships. A collapsed road does not distinguish between a Christian traveller and a Muslim traveller. Unemployment does not respect denomination. Inflation does not spare one faith community. We enjoin our pastors and imams to keep faith with the manual and actively engage their members to know why corruption is heinous.”
While encouraging religious leaders to play more active roles in changing the society, Olukoyede observed that “Religious institutions have extraordinary responsibility in Nigeria’s anti-corruption struggle. The EFCC can investigate a person’s conduct. Faith communities can influence that person’s character. We can prosecute fraud. Religious teaching can cultivate honesty. We can confiscate illicit wealth. Churches and mosques can challenge the values that make society worship wealth without questioning its source. We can punish corruption after the event. Faith can help prevent it before it begins.”
Crime
Police Confirms Killing of 3 Officers by Gunmen in Kogi
From Joseph Amedu, Lokoja
The Kogi State Police Command has confirmed the killing of three of its officers by unknown gunmen in a checking point in Egbe, a community sharing boundary with Kwara State.
The Kogi State Police Public Relations Officer PPRO SP William Ovye Aya who confirmed the incident noted that it happened in the early hours of Wednesday, September 10th, 2025.
Aya asserted that the Kogi State Commissioner of Police, Miller Dantawaye has deployed Police tactical team to the area adding that they are on the trail of the gunmen.
“I can confirm to you that three of our officers on duty was killed today in Egbe; a border community with Kwara State.
“The Commissioner of Police has deployed tactical squad to the area. We are currently on the trail of this Men of the under world and they will all be arrested”he started.
Meanwhile the Kogi State Government has commended the swift response of security agencies and local hunters, which led to the rescue of 17 passengers kidnapped along the Lokoja–Obajana road on Thursday.
In a statement signed by the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Kingsley Femi Fanwo, the Government confirmed that the victims were freed following the prompt intervention of the Nigerian Army and local hunters, who pursued the abductors and ensured the safe release of all passengers. The rescued victims have since been taken to medical facilities for examination and care.
The Government also expressed deep concern over the reported attack on security operatives in Yagba West Local Government Area, which resulted in the death of some police officers. While expressing condolence to the families of the slain officers, the State described them as gallant men who paid the supreme price in the line of duty.
Fanwo noted that Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo has reaffirmed his administration’s determination to rid the State of criminal elements, assuring that personnel and security equipment are being deployed to strategic locations to restore security.
He called on citizens to cooperate with security operatives by providing timely and useful information, stressing that the perpetrators of the attacks will be brought to justice.
“The Government of Kogi State will never submit to acts of terror. Together with the support of the people and the commitment of our security agencies, we will overcome those who seek to disrupt the peace of our land,” the statement added.
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