ITI Scandal: Marketer Claims Ex-Staff Emmanuel Akande Pocketed N200,000 After Failed Share Purchase

Femi Adegbenro, an Abeokuta-based marketer, has accused Emmanuel Akande, a former staff member of the Integrated Trust Investment (ITI), of holding on to his balance of N200,000 for over a year after sending him N500,000 to purchase shares.

He said Akande purchased N300,000 worth of shares instead and kept the balance.

He told the press that when he contacted Akande on September 4, 2022, he informed him he had been transferred from the company’s Lagos office and promoted to managing director at the company’s branch in Abuja.

Adegbenro told the press that it was not his first time purchasing shares and that he had always done it through ITI.

Five days after sending the money to Akande, he received a text message from the Nigerian Stock Exchange confirming that shares had been bought on his behalf.

When he read the text message, he realised Akande had failed to purchase N500,000 worth of shares.

“To my greatest surprise, he purchased N300,000 worth of shares. I didn’t bother asking him because ITI has in-house accounts where money intended for shares would be paid into and customers could request the account statement anytime”said Adegbenro.

“Some weeks later, I requested my in-house statement of account and he started giving me excuses. He was blaming his inability to send it on the poor network.”

Adegbenro decided to be patient and see if Akande would purchase shares with his N200,000 balance, but he didn’t.

In March 2023, he told Akande to raise a trade order for the shares he had purchased for him and send the money made from the trade order along with his N200,000 balance. Akande sent the money he made from the trade order but failed to send the N200,000 balance.

Infuriated, Adegbenro visited the ITI office in Lagos to lodge complaints about Akande’s unprofessional attitude towards him. This was when he learned that Akande resigned in February 2023.

This news shocked Adegbenro because Akande did not inform him about his resignation from the company.

“The company set up a panel to investigate the issue I had raised. When they learned he had diverted money meant for the company into his pocket, they contacted his guarantors. I also got the contacts of his guarantors, but they could not get him to refund my money,” said Adegbenro.

He added that he and Akande had reached agreements several times on the date the refund should be made but Akande defaulted each time. He also said that Akande had blocked him on WhatsApp.

When the press contacted Akande, he did not deny the allegations. He said that he patronised a point of sale (PoS) agent to make the transaction for the purchase of shares and the operator made a transaction of N300,000 instead of N500,000.

“I was told that the POS agent did not deposit the money into the company’s account and only paid N300,000 instead of N500,000. I began to search for the agent to confront him. When I found him, we agreed on a particular date for a refund,” he said.

“When I returned to his shop on the agreed date, I learned he had relocated from the place. I could not refund Akande because of what happened.”

When the press informed Adegbenro of Akande’s response, he said he was cooking up stories.

“Emmanuel Akande lies for a living. I have studied him over time. He blocked me because I know his tricky way. He lured me into paying into his personal account and is cooking up stories,” he lamented.

FIJ