July 30, 2025
A high court in Bayelsa state presided over by Justice Amaebi Orukari, has adjourned the case between the Bayelsa State chapter of the Maize Growers Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria, MAGPMA and Ecobank Plc, over breach of rules of engagement, until September 22, 2025.
The the Maize Growers Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria, MAGPMAN, Bayelsa State chapter had dragged Ecobank Plc to the state high court in Yenagoa over alleged fraudulent deductions from its account.
The association said it has incurred financial losses due to alleged unauthorized withdrawals made from its account by Ecobank.
The maize farmers are therefore seeking a cumulative general and punitive damage of N68 billion.
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The plaintiff is seeking legal redress from Ecobank over the bank’s unsatisfactory handling of its account, which exposed them to otherwise avoidable risks and losses.
The farmers association 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 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 amicable.
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It was learned that under the CBN Anchor Borrower Program, each of the 894 members of the Bayelsa State chapter of the Maize Growers Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria, was to get N182,461.02 and was expected to pay back N198,862.04 at the end of the loan tenure.
Ecobank Plc, 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 and the case was adjourned until September 22, 2025.
