ABUJA, NIGERIA — The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Apo, Abuja, has become the center of a high-profile legal battle as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) re-arraigned the former Chairman of the Board of Directors of the defunct Skye Bank Plc (now Polaris Bank Limited), Tunde Ayeni.
Before Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie, Ayeni pleaded “not guilty” to a freshly amended 18-count charge bordering on criminal breach of trust, misappropriation, and the systematic diversion of depositors’ funds. The massive haul of diverted funds is valued at approximately ₦15.6 billion.
Inside the Charges: The Shadow Suspense Accounts
According to court documents and the updated prosecution brief filed by the EFCC, the 59-year-old former banking czar allegedly leveraged his supreme authority over the bank’s board to orchestrate unauthorized, multi-billion Naira transfers out of the bank’s internal suspense accounts:
ALLEGATIONS OF FINANCIAL SIPHONING
┌─────────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ RECIPIENT ENTITY / ACCOUNT │ ALLEGED TRANSACTION AMOUNT │
├─────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ • Greenwich Registrars (Union) │ • ₦5.078 Billion (Dec 2014) │
│ • Misa Limited (Zenith Bank) │ • ₦3.11 Billion (Nov 2014) │
│ • Harigold Ventures (Sterling) │ • ₦600 Million (Sept 2014) │
│ • Capital Field Investment Group│ • ₦510 Million (Sept 2014) │
└─────────────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────────────────┘
The anti-graft agency asserts that these high-value transfers directly violated Skye Bank’s Operational Policy Manual and prudential regulatory guidelines. The prosecution argues that under Section 311 of the Penal Code, converting depositors’ safety balances into personal or corporate vehicle accounts constitutes a criminal breach of trust.
A Repeated Plea: The Procedural Tug-of-War
The latest proceedings mark a complex legal dance between the state and Ayeni’s defense team. Ayeni was initially arrested on April 23, 2026, and arraigned on May 4, 2026, on a 17-count charge, where he was temporarily remanded in the Kuje Correctional Facility.
However, as investigators unearthed supplementary proof and tracking trails, the EFCC amended the charges:
- The Amendment: Lead prosecutor Abba Muhammed (SAN) informed the court that the prosecution filed an amended 18-count charge to accommodate fresh evidence.
- The Defense Response: Defense Counsel Abdul Mohammed (SAN) confirmed that they had been served the updated trial documents but maintained his client’s innocence.
- The Plea: Ayeni calmly stood in the dock and pleaded “not guilty” to every count read out to him.
The Lingering Shadow of Skye Bank’s Collapse
For the Nigerian banking public, the trial of Tunde Ayeni is not just another corruption case—it is a post-mortem of one of the country’s most dramatic financial institution collapses.
Skye Bank’s systemic failure, which eventually forced the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to stage a massive, taxpayer-funded intervention and rename the entity Polaris Bank, left thousands of shareholders burned and destabilized the national financial ecosystem.
As Justice Onwuegbuzie adjourns the matter to clear the path for the formal commencement of the trial, the public and the banking sector will be watching closely to see if the state can successfully close the ledger on one of the most expensive financial scandals of the last decade.
