Court Orders Arrest Of Four UBA Officials.

A Chief Magistrate’s Court in Osogbo has ordered the arrest of United Bank for Africa Plc and four of its top officials over alleged unlawful handling of bank accounts opened for the 30 local government councils in Osun State.

The order followed a case filed by the Osun State Government and heard on Friday, January 30, 2026. The suit is marked MOS/601c/2025.

In the court order sent to the Osun State Commissioner of Police, the magistrate stated that complaints were brought against the bank and its officials for allowing people without approval to operate and maintain 30 accounts opened in the names of the local government councils.

The court noted that the defendants were earlier summoned but failed to appear, despite proof that they were properly served.

Based on this, the court directed the police to bring the defendants before the magistrate to answer the charges or face further action under the law.

The case has been fixed for trial on February 10, 2026.

Those listed as defendants include United Bank for Africa Plc, its Group Managing Director Oliver Alawuba, the Company Secretary and Group Legal Adviser Billy Odum, and the Deputy Managing Director Chukwuma Nweke.

Court records show that the Osun State Government filed a 31-count charge against the bank and its officials.

Each count is linked to alleged breaches connected to the opening and running of bank accounts for the state’s 30 local government councils.

In the first count, the prosecution accused the defendants of working together around December 9, 2025, and on later dates, at the Olonkoro branch of UBA in Osogbo, to open, operate, and keep accounts described as illegal local government council accounts.

The charge says this act amounts to a felony under the Criminal Code of Osun State.

The defendants were also accused of allowing unknown private individuals to act as signatories to the accounts, even though the Local Government Service Commission had officially presented the Directors of Administration and General Services and Directors of Finance as the approved signatories.

The prosecution stated that this action goes against provisions of the Osun State Local Government Accounts Administration Law, 2025, and carries penalties under the same law.

Other counts in the charge sheet also deal with similar claims involving all 30 local government councils in the state.

At an earlier sitting in December 2025, the Chief Magistrate, A. A. Adeyeba, ordered that the defendants be served through email and newspaper notices.

The case was then moved to January 30, 2026, for hearing, which led to the issuance of the arrest warrants.