PMT Boss Returns N2.2b Wrongly Credited to his Account by FBN

Nigerians are not all corrupt after all.

The Chairman of Peace Mass transit, Dr. Sam Maduka Onyishi has returned a huge sum of N2,219,500,000 which was wrongly transferred into his account by First Bank.

In a meeting he had with his First Bank account officers, his Unity Bank Account officer, some media workers and some of his staff at his Emene office, Dr. Onyishi explained that he instructed that First Bank pay $3m into his Unity Bank account but discovered that $10m was paid instead by First Bank, which has an excess of N2,219,500,000.

Speaking to the gathering of media workers, his account officers and staffs, he narrated the situation as follows:

“I told my bank (First Bank) to pay money into my Unity Bank account that I want to take $3m but they paid in $10m instead. I called to inform them  that the amount they paid to me was more than the amount I requested but they told me that the ten million dollars was my money”.

“I sent emails to the bank to inform them of the wrong payment but they didn’t find anything. My account in First Bank was not debited so they did not see it. Unity Bank did not see anything because they just received the money”.

“The amount they paid in was N3,219,500,000 but my own money there is N1,000,000,000 so the balance is not my money and I can’t keep $7m that doesn’t belong to me. When they told me that it is my money that they invested, I asked them how come they went ahead to invest my money without telling me so that I can use my money and then I can know how much I have”.

“I told them that they have failed to give me a statement of my account even when I have demanded for it severally. I discovered later that the amount was even more than what we are talking about because there was another person I asked the bank to pay money to whom they even paid extra”.

“I made inquiries and they told me that I should wait until when it is time for banks to do reconciliation so that they can find out if the fault is from First Bank, Central Bank or Unity Bank. I waited for a whole month and no one called me. I told the devil that he is a deceiver and a liar. He knows that I need money now that is why he is setting this trap”.

 “It was for these reasons that I invited First Bank, Unity Bank and media workers so that I can hand the money over to First Bank.  If they find out that the money belongs to me, return it to me. If it belongs to Unity Bank or CBN give it to them, But if it is your own, keep it. So I am giving this money to you to keep on trust”.

He called on the management of CBN, Unity Bank and First Bank to look into the origin of the money because such leakages could come with dire consequences for any commercial institution. He said this could be a sign that people’s money have been missing everyday.

The cheque was received by the Business Manager, Commercial Banking, Mr. Kokelu Ben on behalf of First Bank.

This is simply a rare act of integrity.

Reported by Olive Chinyere Amajuoyi.