Misleading Context! No Linkage Between Fraud Allegations in First Bank and Zenith Bank Network Issues

By Ajibola Osungbohun

Claim: An X user  posted an image with an inscription “Could there be a linkage between what happened in First Bank and what is now happening in Zenith Bank?

Screenshot from the X handle 

Verdict:Misleading! no link between what happened in First Bank and what is happening with Zenith Bank, as it is just a maintenance upgrade disruption.

Full Text: 

On the 4th October, 2024, we found an image posted  by an X user @tayoajikawo, the image which had an inscription  ‘Could there be a linkage between what happened in First Bank and what is now happening in Zenith Bank?’.

The post was seen to be a reply to a news article published by nairametrics  in regard to Zenith bank network issues.

However, according to News central report on 7th June, 2024, it was gathered that one Tijani Muiz Adeyinka, a staff of First Bank, was declared wanted by the Nigeria Police Force over an alleged diversion of over N40 billion from various customers’ accounts to different accounts in his control. 

According to the police bulletin, Tijani is wanted by the INTERPOL section of the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID). A warrant of his arrest was said to have been reportedly issued by a High Court in Abuja.

Tijani, was a Manager in the Electronic Products team, allegedly used his position to process customer reversal requests into merchant accounts he controlled, which later led to the sack of over 100 of its employees.

Also there were several publications that reported the transfer of the money from FirstBank to his wife’s Zenith Bank account, the news was reported on platforms like Trail Reporters, here and here.

Also the post had little engagement of just 2,217 views, but it came up at  a time where banks have been seen merging and folding up due to mismanagement and embezzlement of customers’ savings.

Hence, we were moved to check the veracity of the claim.

Verification: 

Firstly we used google to search for any press statements as regard the fraud from First Bank to Zenith Bank account and we found none. 

In our findings we found out that on the 30th September, 2024, there was a public announcement from Zenith Bank that it will carry out maintenance on its Information Technology Infrastructure.

Also on the 1st October, 2024 they released another public notie of an ongoing maintenance.  As the disruption continued they kept making public apology, this was on 3rd October, 2024. 

Finally on the 4th October, 2024 there was a public notice on the maintenance that has disrupted transactions of  their customers.

Conclusion

Our finding revealed that there is no link between what happened in  First Bank and what is happening with Zenith Bank is a maintenance upgrade disruption. Therefore, the claim is Misleading.