Exclusive: Reyenieju, UBA Fingered In Alleged Illegal Deduction From Account Of Amnesty Beneficiaries Running Into Millions

Hon Daniel Reyenieju

The member representing Warri Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon Daniel Reyenieju has been accused of illegally authorizing United Bank of Africa, UBA to deduct N13, 953 from the N65, 000 accruing as stipend to about 500 beneficiaries of the Federal Government Amnesty Programme in Itsekiri nation.

Credible source told BigPen Online that the lawmakers who reportedly midwifed the inclusion of Itsekiris into the program had allegedly connived with some officers of Itsekiri National Youth Council, INYC, to make the alleged illegal deduction from the beneficiaries accounts which are domicile in the Warri-Estate branch of the UBA.

Our source revealed that Reyenieju allegedly cajoled all the beneficiaries which he single-handedly picked among his friends, relatives and some leaders from Itsekiri nation, to enter into a Standing Payment Order with UBA when they were opening their various accounts with the bank to deduct the money.

Source said that the lawmaker allegedly authorized the bank to make the deduction suspected to be fraudulent as kickback for his efforts in having the beneficiaries enlisted into the amnesty program.

It was gathered that Reyenieju alongside executive of INYC who are part of the deal had opened an escrow account with the bank where the money deducted are wired into from where they are collected and used for some sordid businesses and charity work.

The source however said that the bank in a bid to play safe in the deal went as far as attaching an affidavit sworn to by the beneficiaries to their forms which they all signed allowing the deduction when they were opening the amnesty payment account with the bank unknowing to them that it was the lawmakers who had authorized it.

It was reliably gathered that since the enlistment of the 500 slot of Itsekiri natives into the program, Reyenieju in alliance with INYC which is now factionalized have been having his way with the deduction since the tenure of former Amnesty Boss, Kingsley Kuku until few weeks ago when the bubble got burst.

BigPen Online investigations revealed that not all the beneficiaries were losing part of their money to the dealers, some often withdraw their money before the bank could effect the deduction while others who get alert of the deduction never mine to raise issues about it.

The source said that when the deduction was becoming too rampant every month, some of the beneficiaries who earlier thought the deduction was coming from the Amnesty office raised query with the bank but they were told that there is a standing order authorizing the deduction.

Not satisfied, our source said the beneficiaries went further to seek clarification from the amnesty office then under Kuku but to their utmost surprise they were informed that the deduction of any kind from their monthly stipends was unknown to the office and illegal.

The amnesty office including the Olu of Warri who was later intimated of the development reportedly warned the leadership of INYC to stay off the stipends of the beneficiaries, our source added.

The source however revealed that the bubble got burst in July 2017, when the money was wired by the amnesty office into the beneficiaries account with the bank midnight and the bank was able to deduct nearly from everyone’s account since the standing order was still in force and have not be revoked.

Following the development, hundreds of the effected beneficiaries under the auspices of Concern Itsekiri Amnesty Beneficiaries, CIAB, on Monday, this week staged a peaceful protest to Warri- Estate branch of UBA alleging “criminal breach of contractual agreement and fraud committed by management of UBA Estate Warri branch” against beneficiaries account holders with the bank.

“We were surprised to see on the 31st of July, 2017 a standing order from the bank with a minimum balance of N13, 953 to be deducted immediately when the stipends are paid. At midnight when the stipends were paid, the money was deducted without the beneficiaries’, approval thereby breaching the contractual agreement between the bank and the beneficiaries”, they alleged.

The petitioners however threatened that  if nothing is done to stop the alleged fraud, they would have no other option than to shut down the activities of the Bank to press home their grievances.

In a petition document signed by Acting Coordinator of CIAB, Comrade Raymond Aderejor and Acting Secretary, Mr. Isaac Gibberish Ayeseminikan, addressed to EFCC, Nigerian Police Force, SSS, CBN, UBA head office, as well as Olu of Warri and obtained by BigPen Online, the petitioners urged the trios to intervene in the alleged “criminal act of breach of contractual agreement and fraud”.

When contacted an official of the bank who spoke under strict anonymity, exonerate the bank and her officials saying that the bank was only implementing a Standing Payment Order and so was not culpable to any fraud or breach as being alleged by the petitioners.

“Each of the beneficiaries signed a Standing Payment Order, backed by an affidavit for the deduction and you know some of them were just handpicked into the scheme so they agreed to the arrangement. The deduction authorized by the lawmaker is like an administrative charges that was duely signed for so it is not the business of the bank to stop it”.

All efforts to reach Reyenieju for his comments on the report proved abortive as at time of publishing this report.