NMULTI MILLION SHARE SCANDAL ROCKS FIRST BANK
One of Nigeria’s leading financial institutions, First Bank Plc is alleged manipulated some of the shares sold to members of the public recently.
One of the aggrieved customers is Mrs Rhoda Abitogun, a former principal of St. Catherine Girls Grammar school, Ondo State. She said that she bought share units of 15,046 and that only 10,046 were credited to her, and that the deducted 5,000 unit amounted to N146, 982. Rhoda was said to have written to First Bank severally, but she was ignored and she has taken the case to Consumer Protection Council, the body that regulates matters involving stock and shares in the country.
Another victim is Mr. Femi Ajayi, a businessman in oil and gas industry. When the bank shares were made public, he was said to have bought shares units worth N3.5million and the bank only credited him with 60,184 shares instead of 105,322. The value of the deducted shares amounted to N1, 485,000. He was said to have filed a suit accusing the bank of manipulations.
At the Igbosere Magistrate’s Court, Lagos, where the case of Mr. Femi Ajayi was heard, First Bank was conspicuously absent, but other shareholders whose shares units had been allegedly manipulated unjustly by the bank were present, chanting abusive songs against the bank.