Ex-Manager Slams N53m Suit On Ecobank

A former manager of Ecobank, Mrs. Olusola Ojo, whose appointment was allegedly terminated has slammed a N53 million suit on the bank.

According to a statement of claim filed before a Lagos High Court by a Lagos lawyer, Barrister Olujumobi Orioye, the claimant alleged that sometimes in October 2009, she received a complaint from one of the customers of the bank about fraudulent withdrawals from his salary account with the bank.

After investigation, it was discovered that the fraud was perpetrated by a colleague, who was compelled to refund the money through a letter written to his office. Thereafter, the man was queried and his lawyer wrote to the bank to complain and threaten a court action.

The bank, in its reaction, replied that the claimant was not authorized to write such letter to recover the money and promised that disciplinary action would be taken against the officers who signed the letters and a disciplinary committee was later set up to investigate the matter.

In its report, Mrs. Olusola Ojo was commended for the recovery of the money, but sometimes in February 2009, during a meeting between representatives of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, the parent company of the bank, with all the branch managers, the claimant made a suggestion that all marketing and non-marketing staff of the bank should be given targets across board to improve performance of the bank.

This suggestion, it was gathered, did not go down well with some of the managers who felt they won't be able to meet their targets. Consequently, the appointment of the claimant was terminated on 9 September, 2009 and her entitlements were not paid.

On 5 October, 2009, the claimant attended a job interview and was expecting the company she intended to work with to reach her through a phone call, but by the time the company called her, it was unable to get through as Ecobank had allegedly instructed Zain(Airtel) Nigeria, her service provider, to block her line for just no reason and by the time efforts were made to get her line back on course, the position she sought had been offered another person.

In view of ths, Mrs. Olusola Ojo is claiming the following from Ecobank Plc: N50 million being special and general damages for deliberate, malicious and illegal blocking of her mobile telephone line; the sum of N3,039,747.85 being unpaid salaries and emoluments upon termination of her appointment and interest on the