The General Overseer of Divine Hand of God Prophetic Ministry, Prophet Emmanuel Omale, has sued the First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Plc for N5 billion over alleged false report.
In court documents filed on September 4, 2020 before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Omale claimed FCMB falsely reported to the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) that N570 million was paid into his church’s account, thereby leading to accusations that the money was used in buying a house in Dubai for the suspended Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu.
Other claimants in the suit are: the Divine Hand of God Prophetic Ministry and Pastor (Mrs.) Deborah Omale.
The claimants stated, in the suit filed by their lawyer, Gordy Uche (SAN), that in 2016, the FCMB falsely reported to the NFIU that N570 million was paid into the church’s bank account, which caused security agents to put the account under surveillance for four years.
In their statement of claim, The claimants said:
“Sometime on or about July 6, 2020, the former acting Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, was arrested and summoned to the Presidential Villa in Abuja to appear before the Presidential Investigation Committee on the Alleged Mismanagement of the EFCC, Federal Government’s Recovered Assets and Finances from May 2015 to May 2020.
“That is, one of the key allegations levelled at the Presidential Investigation Committee against Mr. Magu was that the second claimant (Omale) fraudulently and corruptly purchased a real estate property for Mr. Magu in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with N573,228,040, allegedly credited as an inflow into the first claimant’s (church’s) Corporate Current Account number 1486743019 in the year 2016.”
The claimants stated that due to the investigation and negative reports, they were exposed to public hatred, injury and contempt in their religious calling.
The cleric said he had lost N180.5 million due to payment of legal fees and personal losses.
The claimants are praying the court for the following relief, among others: A declaration of the court that the defendant, in its banker-customer relationship with the first claimant, owes the claimants a fiduciary duty of care.