Sources in the Central Bank of Nigeria say there is no trace of the allegation that one of the country’s foremost financial institutions, the United Bank for Africa Plc, was involved in the funding of the aborted coup plot in Turkey as alleged by a Turkey newspaper, Yenisafak.
Multiple sources told The Eagle Online that apart from the fact that the money must be routed through the CBN, the Bank also did not report receiving such inflow or disbursing same.
One of the sources added: “More so, it is not as if UBA has a branch in Turkey through which it could have distributed such monies.
“As such, if it needed to move such money out of Nigeria to Turkey, it would have required another bank with presence in Turkey or a country nearby.
“So this means the involvement of another party to the arrangement and this would, mandatorily, involve the CBN as the clearing house for 5 transactions.”
The sources equally wondered how all the Western world and media missed out on the movement of such huge funds until it got to Turkey, with one of them adding: “Certainly, something is amiss.
“The larger picture for us is that someone must be trying to drag not just UBA but Nigeria into the coup plot issue in Turkey.”
UBA Plc has equally issued a statement distancing itself from the coup plot story.
Its Head of Communications, Charles Aigbe, denied involvement in the failed coup plot.
Aigbe said in the terse statement on Tuesday: “UBA is aware of the on-going and spurious media speculation linking our institution to recent events in Turkey. In light of this we believe it is necessary to categorically state that UBA has no involvement in or connection to these accusations, which are clearly false.
“We remain focused and firmly committed to delivering on our strategy to build Africa’s premier banking institution.”
