In July 2024, First Bank terminated over 100 employees in connection with a ₦40 billion fraud discovered four months earlier. According to the investigations, Tijani Muiz Adeyinka, a manager on the bank’s operations team, allegedly diverted the funds over two years by authorizing chargebacks to accounts under his control.
Sources claim that over 120 employees, including full-time and contract staff from the bank’s operations department, received termination letters in July. The head of transactions at the time was among the first to be dismissed.
First Bank attributed the terminations to the employees’ alleged negligence in their duties, claiming they should have detected the fraud sooner. The bank’s management team also asserted that a fraud of such magnitude and duration could not have occurred without the knowledge of Adeyinka’s superiors
The CEO said that there will be zero tolerance for supervisory negligence.
an anonymous First Bank employee
The fraud was discovered in March of this year, and the bank initially attempted to keep the matter low-profile. First Bank quietly placed several operations team members on indefinite suspension, but the situation escalated when the fraud became public knowledge.
According to a source, several employees were detained and interrogated by the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) at the Lion’s Building for at least six hours. These employees were required to post bail for their release. Additionally, all their accounts in banks other than First Bank were frozen pending the investigation’s conclusion.
First Bank CEO at the time, Dr. Adesola Adeduntan, resigned in April, one month after the fraud’s discovery and eight months before the end of his tenure. Adeyinka is still on the run at the moment.
