Oba Otudeko, 81, fled Nigeria ahead of his scheduled arraignment on fraud charges.
Oba Otudeko, a former Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria, has reportedly fled the country ahead of his arraignment on fraud charges – scheduled for Monday, 20 January 2025.
The sudden departure comes amidst a slew of financial disputes and allegations surrounding Otudeko, 81, according to a local news outlet.
The businessman left the country after he was dropped off at the Nigeria-Benin border on Thursday evening by a family member, The Cable news outlet reported, citing security sources.
When TheCable reached out to Otudeko, his phone number was switched off. Messages sent to his WhatsApp, however, were delivered — but there was no response.
Obafemi Otudeko, his son, did not respond to calls and messages when contacted for comments on his father’s whereabouts and destination.
According to the news outlet, Otudeko’s exit from the country is linked to the mounting legal pressures and financial disputes he is facing.
A Federal High Court in Lagos had fixed Monday, January 20, 2025, for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to arraign the Oba Otudeko and a former First Bank Managing Director, Stephen Olabisi Onasanya, for allegedly looting ₦12.3 billion from First Bank.
Otudeko and Onasanya are to be arraigned alongside a former board member of Honeywell Soji Akintayo and a firm, Anchorage Leisure Limited connected to Otudeko.
According to the anti-graft agency, the four committed the fraud in tranches of ₦5.2 billion, ₦6.2 billion, ₦6.150 billion, ₦1.5 billion and ₦500 million, between 2013 and 2014 in Lagos,
The 13-count charge, filed by EFCC counsel Bilikisu Buhari on January 16, 2025, further claimed that the defendants forged documents to deceive the bank.
The EFCC said Otudeko, Onasanya, Akintayo and Anchorage would be brought before Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke, to whom the case, registered as FHC/L/20C/2025, had been assigned.
Specifically, count 1 accused the defendants of conspiring “to obtain the sum of ₦12.3 billion from First Bank Limited on the pretence that the said sum represented credit facilities applied for by V-TECH DYNAMIC LINKS LIMITED and Stallion Nigeria Limited, which representation you know to be false.”
In count 2, it was alleged that the defendants, on or about November 26, 2013 in Lagos, “obtained the sum of ₦5.2 billion from First Bank Limited on the pretence that the said sum represented credit facilities applied for by V TECH DYNAMIC LINKS LIMITED which representation you know to be false.”
EFCC’s spokesman Dele Oyewale could not be reached for comments over Otudeko’s whereabouts.
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