Following the recent dramatic turn of events when a team of security agencies stormed Access Bank Head Quarters on Wednesday (Feb 5th) morning to carry out the arrest order for the execution of the Bench Warrant as ordered by the Court, pictures and videos evidence from the exercise have surfaced.
Footage from the video shows a man who has been described as Access Bank Legal Officer with the some of the prosecutors. The said officer allegedly insisted that the CEO Bolaji Agbede and MD Roosevelt Ogbonna were not available, and that the Company Secretary was in London. After engagement with the Police, the Legal Officers of Access Bank reportedly accompanied the Police to their Station at Alagbon and allegedly undertook that the Defendants against whom the warrant of arrest was issued would be available at the next hearing, coming up on 24th February, 2025.
The case stem from a loan agreement in which Balmoral International Limited and its managing director, Adejare Adegbenro, received a N333 million loan from Diamond Bank (now Access Bank). As part of the loan conditions, MOB Integrated Services Limited are alleged to have offered their property at 40B Bourdillion Road, Ikoyi as collateral. However, it was alleged that without the knowledge or consent of MOB Integrated Services, Access Bank allegedly continued to provide additional facilities to Balmoral International, ultimately including the property as collateral for a separate, unrelated N1 billion credit facility.
This led to legal actions, and when Access Bank and its officials allegedly failed to appear in court for the January 20th arraignment, the court issued a Bench Warrant, which led to Wednesday’s police operation at Access Bank’s headquarters.
