The Bayelsa State chapter of the Maize Growers Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria (MAGPMAN) has dragged Ecobank Plc to the state high court in Yenagoa over alleged fraudulent deductions from its account.
The association alleged that the bank made unauthorized withdrawals from its account, leading to the body incurring financial losses.
The aggrieved farmer organisation is seeking legal redress from Ecobank over the bank’s unsatisfactory handling of its account, which exposed them to avoidable risks and losses.
The plaintiff alleged that its account domiciled with the bank on the Anchor Borrower Program of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was run in breach of the CBN’s rules for the scheme.
The maize farmers are therefore seeking a cumulative general and punitive damage of N68 billion.
The group lamented that the fraud allegedly perpetrated by the commercial bank has left it with no choice but to seek redress, since the bank refused to listen to them in a way that would have resolved the issue.
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It was learned that under the scheme, each of the 894 members of the group was to get N182,461.02 and was expected to pay back N198,862.04 at the end of the loan tenure.
But Ecobank is alleged to have deducted N400,000, N300,000, and N205,000, respectively, as the case may be, from the farmers.
When the case came up for mention on Wednesday, the defendant’s counsel, Theo Osanakpo (SAN), sought an adjournment to enable the court to commence a pre-trial hearing on the matter.
The court presided over by Justice Amaebi Orukari, therefore, adjourned the case until September 22, 2025.
