The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has filed a 13-count charge against Oba Otudeko, a former chairman of First Bank Nigeria (FBN), and three others over alleged fraud. The three other defendants are Stephen Olabisi Onasanya, a former group managing director of FBN; Soji Akintayo, an ex-board member of Honeywell Flour Mills plc; and Anchorage Limited, a company linked to Otudeko.
The anti-graft agency filed the charges at the federal high court in Lagos on Thursday and said the defendants will be arraigned on Monday, January 20, 2025.
In the charge sheet, the EFCC accused Otudeko and the other defendants of obtaining tranches of loans—N12.3 billion, N5.2 billion, N6.2 billion, N6.1 billion, and N1.5 billion—from First Bank under the pretence that the funds were obtained by some firms. The anti-graft agency said the credit facilities were obtained between 2013 and 2014.
The anti-graft agency has also stated that there will be 12 witnesses for the trial.
The witnesses include three EFCC investigators and representatives of First Bank, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Stallion Nigeria, and V-tech Dynamics Limited.
In August 2024, Adesuwa Ezenwa, a former relationship manager at First Bank, told the national industrial court that loans worth billions of naira were transferred to companies related to Otudeko even though they were granted in the name of other firms.