The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, Ogun State, on Monday, protested at Unity Bank in Abeokuta over alleged diversion of N134million, being the association’s investments with funds.
Members of the association, signing solidarity songs, stormed Unity Bank branch located at Ita – Eko, Abeokuta, to express their displeasure.
The protesters carried placards with various inscriptions, including : “Ole Ni Unity Bank,” “Funds Not Safe In Unity Bank,” “Unity Bank Stole Our Money”, “No Refund, No Retreat, No Surrender,” among others.
Speaking during the protest, the state chairman of the Association, Comrade Olude Isa Owolabi said the association had instructed the bank to transfer it’s investments into another bank account.
Owolabi said the bank however sent a lesser amount, thereby creating a significant shortage amount from their accounts.
“Sometimes last year, we heard from emergency call that Unity Bank, Abeokuta branch is defrauding customers and because we are Union that is proactive since we have professionals in our midst, we rose to the occasion and instructed Unity bank to transfer some amount of money from our Investment account to another account.
“Unfortunately, Unity Bank transfer lesser the amount we are expecting and we have a shortage of significant amount from our account.
“We have interacted with them many times, we have contacted them, we have written several letters, not less than six or seven and Unity bank did not respond.
“The issue started as early as February this year and as we speak, they have not return our money to us. We cannot continue to wait for Unity bank to be free, they have admitted that they have defrauded us, records are there to show that in our office, they admitted that the money is there and they will transfer as soon as possible since then we have not heard anything from Unity bank”, he stated.
Owolabi puts the total investments fund at N134million, while a total amount of N80million have so far been transferred to the Association, leaving a balance of about N54million.
“When we are looking for transfer, they transfer lesser. The total amount with them N130 million, they transfer only 80 million, leaving about N50 million plus with them and as we speak the 54 million to be precise is still with them, they have yet to transfer it since February when instruction was issued.
“We ask Unity bank to transfer the whole amount to another account for investment because investment depends on your negotiations with the bank or whoever you are investing with because you could have better bargaining elsewhere so we ask them to transfer to another bank account for better dealings”, he added.
A copy of an agreement, dated August 13 and jointly signed by the Chairman of the Association of Senior Civil Servant of Nigeria (ASCSN), Savings Scheme, Comrade Makinde Bamidele, the Treasurer, Comrade Suliaman Ayodele Jamiu, the SouthWest Regional Manager of Unity Bank, Olanrewaju Olusegun and Abeokuta branch Manager of the bank, Saka Adeleke, on the loss of fund belonging to the Association was obtained by our correspondent.
An official of the bank stated that the bank is not denying the association access to their funds.
He said “the issue is already with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).”
He said until the conclusion of the Investigation on the said matter by the CBN, the bank cannot make any further transfer as requested by the association.
