Nigerian tycoon Tunde Ayeni remanded at Kuje Prison as EFCC files 17-count $11.3 million fraud charge

A Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja remanded former Skye Bank chairman Tunde Ayeni at the Kuje Correctional Centre on Monday after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission arraigned him on a 17-count charge bordering on criminal breach of trust, misappropriation and conversion of investors' funds amounting to N15,665,085,429.

Ayeni appeared before Justice Jude Onwuzuruike at the court sitting in Apo, Abuja. The EFCC's prosecution counsel, E.E. Iheanacho, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, told the court the matter was set for arraignment and that the prosecution was ready to proceed to trial. When the charges were read to him, Ayeni pleaded not guilty to all 17 counts.

The commission's charge sheet, filed April 28, 2026, details a pattern of alleged fraudulent transactions said to have been carried out while Ayeni served as chairman of the defunct Skye Bank between 2014 and 2016. The prosecution alleges he used his position to authorise transfers from the bank's suspense account into accounts linked to a web of companies, in violation of prudential guidelines and other banking regulations.

Among the specific allegations: N3.2 billion transferred to Misa Limited at Zenith Bank across multiple tranches between October and November 2014; N5.07 billion moved to Union Registrar Limited in November 2014; N1 billion to Beks Kimse Limited; N850 million to Capital Field Investment and Trust Limited; N600 million to Harigold Ventures Limited; N554 million to Capital Assets Limited; N400 million to Ridge Associate Limited; N350 million to Suis Properties Limited; and N300 million to Speedy Print Limited, among others.

One count also accuses Ayeni of directly withdrawing N2.475 billion in cash from the bank's suspense account. Across the counts, the prosecution describes the alleged actions as deliberate acts of misappropriation punishable under Section 311 of the Penal Code.

Ayeni's defence counsel, Ahmed Raji Bashir, also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, objected to immediate remand. He told the court the charge had been served on his client on May 1, a public holiday, and he considered that irregular. He asked either that Ayeni be released to his custody or returned to EFCC detention. Assuring the court that Ayeni, a lawyer of more than 35 years' practice, would appear at the next adjourned date, Bashir said a bail application had already been filed and served on the prosecution that same Monday.

Justice Onwuzuruike declined the request, adjourned the matter to May 13 for hearing of the bail application, and ordered Ayeni remanded at Kuje in the meantime.

The EFCC picked up Ayeni in Abuja on April 23, interrogated him over the allegations, and formally arraigned him 11 days later. The commission described the charges as bordering on money laundering, misappropriation and diversion of depositors' funds.

This is not Ayeni's first encounter with Nigeria's anti-corruption framework on Skye Bank-related matters. In December 2018, the EFCC arraigned him and former Skye Bank managing director Timothy Oguntayo before the Federal High Court in Abuja on related charges. That case progressed through the courts over years. In July 2022, the commission withdrew those charges following what proceedings described as a settlement involving forfeitures linked to the case. The current arraignment opens a new chapter on what the EFCC clearly regards as unresolved financial misconduct from the bank's collapse.

Skye Bank was taken over by the Central Bank of Nigeria in 2016 after it failed to meet minimum capital requirements, a crisis regulators later attributed in part to governance failures and the exposure of depositors' funds to connected lending. It was subsequently restructured into Polaris Bank by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria.