The Chief Executive Officer of Nord Automobiles, Oluwatobi Ajayi, has accused Stanbic IBTC Bank of illegally withdrawing N700 million from the company’s account without prior notice or a court order.
Ajayi described the alleged action as “unbelievably unethical,” linking it to an ongoing legal dispute over a Letter of Credit (LC) issued in 2022. He made the allegation in a detailed post shared on the social media platform X, where he also raised broader concerns about bias against locally made vehicles.
According to Ajayi, the bank insisted that an LC previously settled at the exchange rate of N430 to N480 was now invalid, demanding repayment at the new rate of over N1,600 per dollar. He said the bank claimed it had not received the LC’s dollar value from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and therefore held Nord liable for the shortfall.
“We didn’t borrow money from them,” Ajayi stated. “While the case is ongoing, the bank illegally debited N700 million from our account without notice. The ambush was unbelievably unethical.”
Ajayi also accused Stanbic IBTC of discriminating against Nigerian manufacturers, alleging that the bank discourages customers from buying locally assembled vehicles. He said one client in the oil and gas sector was advised by the bank to purchase imported vehicles instead of Nord’s Made-in-Nigeria models.
He described the action as “economic sabotage,” arguing that it undermines Nigeria’s industrial growth and contradicts President Bola Tinubu’s vision of building a $1 trillion economy by 2030.
Stanbic IBTC has yet to respond to the allegations as of press time.
Last month, Nigeria’s Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, visited Nord’s Lagos assembly plant and urged greater support for local manufacturers to strengthen national productivity and job creation.
