Business
Investigation: Top MLM Leaders Daniel Onoja, Tomiwa Orunnipin, Samuel Ajibare, Leo Bonaventure Others Indicted Over OmegaPro Fraud
Investigation: Top MLM Leaders Daniel Onoja, Tomiwa Orunnipin, Samuel Ajibare, Leo Bonaventure Others Indicted Over OmegaPro Fraud
MLM leaders such as Tomiwa Orunnipin, Samuel Ajibare, Leo Bonaventure and others have been alleged by some Nigerian investors of aiding and abetting a Dubai-based company identified as OmegaPro Forex and Investment Trading Company to defraud Nigerians.
This is according to a statement signed by Dr. Ope Banwo, the Coordinating Attorney of OmegaPro Action Nigeria Class (OANC), a group formed by affected investors.
According to the statement, the investors affected include widows, retirees, high-net-worth individuals, big business people, and even young people just starting in life.
In the statement seen by www.theoctopusnews.com, Dr. Banwo noted that the fraud cost Nigerians over $100,000,000 (over N100 Billion), with over $1 Billion of investors’ money allegedly stolen in over 70 countries around the world.
How The Fraud Was Hatched
OmegaPro Forex and Investment Trading Company emerged on the scene, promising Nigerians and investors in general a pathway to financial success.
The investment scheme gained popularity and trust among Nigerians and in the world, as many saw it as a ticket to financial freedom. However, little did they know that it was going to be one of the biggest investment tragedies in Nigeria’s history.
With an intricate web of deception and manipulation, alleged promoters of the scheme including Daniel Onoja, Tomiwa Orunnipin, Samuel Ajibare, Leo Bonaventure, and several top leader MLM Diamonds, painted the image of a foolproof investment opportunity with high returns and a secure investment environment.
Alleged promoters and agents such as Grace Udenwa Udoye, Wuraola Fadairo Orunupin, Olasebikan Oladapo, Maryann Ilorah, Chinwe Ikpe, Ajibare Olushola Ebunoluwa, Dotun Fatoyinbo,. Dr Afoma Nwolisa, and Matthew Ogunmodede, marketed the venture aggressively, touting its legitimacy and potential for lucrative earnings.
At that rate of marketing, investors couldn’t help but take the bait, especially as top agents and promoters in the MLM industry who carried significant influence within their networks also participated in the marketing exercise for OmegaPro.
They leveraged their status, persuading thousands of investors to entrust their hard-earned money with OmegaPro. Their endorsements created an illusion of credibility that typically lured in unsuspecting Nigerians.
Aside from this, they kept assuring Nigerian investors that rigorous due diligence had been conducted by them on OmegaPro’s Dubai-based owners and operations, implying that it was a legitimate and low-risk investment.
This way, investors put in their entire life savings, and pensions, while some even sold their houses and properties to invest in the OmegaPro ‘Forex’ trading activities.
For their services, these top promoters allegedly collected a 10 per cent commission from the OmegaPro Dubai company as a finders fee from the investment of every unsuspecting investor they referred to the scheme by selling it as a forex trading company.
At the height of what has now been declared a mega scam by investors, several of these top agents and promoters like Daniel Onoja, Tomiwa Orunnipin and Bonaventure Igboanugo allegedly earned over $50,000 weekly as finders’ fee commissions from 1000s of unsuspecting Nigerians whom they kept leading to believe that OmegaPro was a legit Forex Trading Company. Cumulatively, they allegedly earned over $2million each in over just a couple of years.
The Dubai company allegedly owned by known Dubai-based scammers such as Andreas Szackas, Dilawar Singh, Mike Simms with a long history of scamming people went as far as giving the investors a back office that showed that forex trading was going on in the company. These alleged forex trading activities have since been exposed by the USA CFTC as an elaborate scam to lure in people interested in forex trading on a global level.
According to Barrister Banwo, top promoters and agents of the biggest global forex scams in history allegedly used the illegal commissions and proceeds from this OmegaPro Ponzi scheme to buy huge mansions in choice places in Nigeria, Canada, the USA, and the United Kingdom leaving investors in pain.
“Daniel Onoja recently celebrated the purchase of a multi-million-dollar house in Canada, while Leo Bonaventure, recently posted videos of the housewarming of his own amazing multi-billion naira estate in Lagos. On his part, Leo Bonaventure, recently obtained a micro-banking license,” Banwo said.
While the promoters of the alleged scam smiled at the bank, investors have been crying having realised that the alleged due diligence said to have been conducted was non-existent, and their funds gone.
Interestingly, investigation has now shown that experts in forex trading had for the past three years been sounding the alarm bells that Omegapro was a scam and a Ponzi scheme.
These experts wrote articles and posted videos about OmegaPro, however, these Nigerian top agents and promoters pretended they did not see any of these warning signs as they continued to promote OmegaPro as a foolproof investment.
Climax Of The Scam
The pains of OmegaPro’s investors began in September 2022, when OmegaPro Dubai leaders, their collaborators all over the world, and Nigeria suddenly announced that its system had been hacked, and it stopped releasing payments of matured investments to investors all over the world. A few weeks later, the Dubai owners announced that they were migrating all their investors’ accounts to a new company called Brokers Domain until they could fix the breach in their system. Investors all over the world started getting nervous with some asking tough questions.
Then around April 2022, while over $1 billion of investors’ money in over 70 countries remained frozen, the owners and their top agents and collaborators announced the formation of a new company called Go Global and began aggressively recruiting Omegapro investors to invest in the new company with promises that their investments in OmegaPro would soon be released.
Many investors fell for this and started promoting the new Go Global company, while others started seeing the handwriting on the wall.
Finally, in August 2023, the OmegaPro owners based in Dubai, and their top promoters and agents announced that they would not be able to pay anyone’s Omegapro investment because the United States CFTC had frozen their accounts over some investigations affecting one of their partners named Mike Simms. However, they could not explain how Omegapro money could have been seized in the USA when they had earlier confirmed that the company does not have any office in the USA and did not have any license to operate direct or financial transactions in the USA.
As suspicions grew, with many investors asking for more details of this shocking announcement, OmegaPro leaders abruptly closed its doors, and many of their top Nigerian agents and promoters also went underground, leaving thousands of investors all over the world, including over 250,000 Nigerian investors in despair.
The company’s Dubai-based owners, Dilawar, Singh, and Paulo, and other top agents allegedly made off with millions of dollars in investments from over 70 countries all over the world, including an estimated N200 billion coming from Nigerian investors.
Amidst reports of a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Interpol, and a pending class action lawsuit by affected Nigerian investors in the name of OmegaPro Action Nigeria, one is forced to X-ray the involvement of these agents and promoters all over the world, especially those of OmegaPro agents in Nigeria who aided and abetted the Dubai company to scam their citizens.
Questions such as were they complicit in the scheme, did they knowingly promote a fraudulent venture, or were they also victims of deception, were they willing accomplices, unwitting victims, should they be made to refund the billions of Naira they received in commissions for luring unsuspecting members of the public into parting with their hard-earned money into this global scam have been asked.
Typically, some maintain that the promoters are guilty of not doing their due diligence while promoting OmegaPro thus leading to the loss of thousands of Dollars.
For this sect, the ruling is simple, a refund, at the minimum, the commissions earned from the illegal forex trading scheme is a must.
Business
BUA Foods Records 91% Surge in Profit After Tax, Hits ₦508bn in 2025
BUA Foods Records 91% Surge in Profit After Tax, Hits ₦508bn in 2025
By femi Oyewale
Business
Adron Homes Unveils “Love for Love” Valentine Promo with Exciting Discounts, Luxury Gifts, and Travel Rewards
Adron Homes Unveils “Love for Love” Valentine Promo with Exciting Discounts, Luxury Gifts, and Travel Rewards
In celebration of the season of love, Adron Homes and Properties has announced the launch of its special Valentine campaign, “Love for Love” Promo, a customer-centric initiative designed to reward Nigerians who choose to express love through smart, lasting real estate investments.
The Love for Love Promo offers clients attractive discounts, flexible payment options, and an array of exclusive gift items, reinforcing Adron Homes’ commitment to making property ownership both rewarding and accessible. The campaign runs throughout the Valentine season and applies to the company’s wide portfolio of estates and housing projects strategically located across Nigeria.
Speaking on the promo, the company’s Managing Director, Mrs Adenike Ajobo, stated that the initiative is aimed at encouraging individuals and families to move beyond conventional Valentine gifts by investing in assets that secure their future. According to the company, love is best demonstrated through stability, legacy, and long-term value—principles that real estate ownership represents.
Under the promo structure, clients who make a payment of ₦100,000 receive cake, chocolates, and a bottle of wine, while those who pay ₦200,000 are rewarded with a Love Hamper. Payments of ₦500,000 attract a Love Hamper plus cake, and clients who pay ₦1,000,000 enjoy a choice of a Samsung phone or a Love Hamper with cake.
The rewards become increasingly premium as commitment grows. Clients who pay ₦5,000,000 receive either an iPad or an all-expenses-paid romantic getaway for a couple at one of Nigeria’s finest hotels, which includes two nights’ accommodation, special treats, and a Love Hamper. A payment of ₦10,000,000 comes with a choice of a Samsung Z Fold 7, three nights at a top-tier resort in Nigeria, or a full solar power installation.
For high-value investors, the Love for Love Promo delivers exceptional lifestyle experiences. Clients who pay ₦30,000,000 on land are rewarded with a three-night couple’s trip to Doha, Qatar, or South Africa, while purchasers of any Adron Homes house valued at ₦50,000,000 receive a double-door refrigerator.
The promo covers Adron Homes’ estates located in Lagos, Shimawa, Sagamu, Atan–Ota, Papalanto, Abeokuta, Ibadan, Osun, Ekiti, Abuja, Nasarawa, and Niger States, offering clients the opportunity to invest in fast-growing, strategically positioned communities nationwide.
Adron Homes reiterated that beyond the incentives, the campaign underscores the company’s strong reputation for secure land titles, affordable pricing, strategic locations, and a proven legacy in real estate development.
As Valentine’s Day approaches, Adron Homes encourages Nigerians at home and in the diaspora to take advantage of the Love for Love Promo to enjoy exceptional value, exclusive rewards, and the opportunity to build a future rooted in love, security, and prosperity.
Business
Why Nigeria’s Banks Still on Shaky Ground with Big Profits, Weak Capital
*Why Nigeria’s Banks Still on Shaky Ground with Big Profits, Weak Capital*
*BY BLAISE UDUNZE*
Despite the fragile 2024 economy grappling with inflation, currency volatility, and weak growth, Nigeria’s banking industry was widely portrayed as successful and strong amid triumphal headlines. The figures appeared to signal strength, resilience, and superior management as the Tier-1 banks such as Access Bank, Zenith Bank, GTBank, UBA, and First Bank of Nigeria, collectively reported profits approaching, and in some cases exceeding, N1 trillion. Surprisingly, a year later, these same banks touted as sound and solid are locked in a frenetic race to the capital markets, issuing rights offers and public placements back-to-back to meet the Central Bank of Nigeria’s N500 billion recapitalisation thresholds.
The contradiction is glaring. If Nigeria’s biggest banks are so profitable, why are they unable to internally fund their new capital requirements? Why have no fewer than 27 banks tapped the capital market in quick succession despite repeated assurances of balance-sheet robustness? And more fundamentally, what do these record profits actually say about the real health of the banking system?
The recapitalisation directive announced by the CBN in 2024 was ambitious by design. Banks with international licences were required to raise minimum capital to N500 billion by March 2026, while national and regional banks faced lower but still substantial thresholds ranging from N200 billion to N50 billion, respectively. Looking at the policy, it was sold as a modern reform meant to make banks stronger, more resilient in tough times, and better able to support major long-term economic development. In theory, strong banks should welcome such reforms. In practice, the scramble that followed has exposed uncomfortable truths about the structure of bank profitability in Nigeria.
At the heart of the inconsistency is a fundamental misunderstanding often encouraged by the banks themselves between profits and capital. Unknown to many, profitability, no matter how impressive, does not automatically translate into regulatory capital. Primarily, the CBN’s recapitalisation framework actually focuses on money paid in by shareholders when buying shares, fresh equity injected by investors over retained earnings or profits that exist mainly on paper.
This distinction matters because much of the profit surge recorded in 2024 and early 2025 was neither cash-generative nor sustainably repeatable. A significant portion of those headline banks’ profits reported actually came from foreign exchange revaluation gains following the sharp fall of the naira after exchange-rate unification. The industry witnessed that banks’ holding dollar-denominated assets their books showed bigger numbers as their balance sheets swell in naira terms, creating enormous paper profits without a corresponding improvement in underlying operational strength. These gains inflated income statements but did little to strengthen core capital, especially after the CBN barred banks from using FX revaluation gains for dividends or routine operations. In effect, banks looked richer without becoming stronger.
Beyond FX effects, Nigerian banks have increasingly relied on non-interest income fees, charges, and transaction levies to drive profitability. While this model is lucrative, it does not necessarily deepen financial intermediation or expand productive lending. High profits built on customer charges rather than loan growth offer limited support for long-term balance-sheet expansion. They also leave banks vulnerable when macroeconomic conditions shift, as is now happening.
Indeed, the recapitalisation exercise coincides with a turning point in the monetary cycle. The extraordinary conditions that supported bank earnings in 2024 and 2025 are beginning to unwind. Analysts now warn that Nigerian banks are approaching earnings reset, as net interest margins the backbone of traditional banking profitability, come under sustained pressure.
Renaissance Capital, in a January note, projects that major banks including Zenith, GTCO, Access Holdings, and UBA will struggle to deliver earnings growth in 2026 comparable to recent performance.
In a real sense, the CBN is expected to lower interest rates by 400 to 500 basis points because inflation is slowing down, and this means that banks will earn less on loans and government bonds, but they may not be able to quickly lower the interest they pay on deposits or other debts. The cash reserve requirements are still elevated, which does not earn interest; banks can’t easily increase or expand lending investments to make up for lower returns. The implications are significant. Net interest margin, the difference between what banks earn on loans and investments and what they pay on deposits, is poised to contract. Deposit competition is intensifying as lenders fight to shore up liquidity ahead of recapitalisation deadlines, pushing up funding costs. At the same time, yields on treasury bills and bonds, long a safe and lucrative haven for banks are expected to soften in a lower-rate environment. The result is a narrowing profit cushion just as banks are being asked to carry far larger equity bases.
Compounding this challenge is the fading of FX revaluation windfalls. With the naira relatively more stable in early 2026, the non-cash gains that once flattered bank earnings have largely evaporated. What remains is the less glamorous reality of core banking operations: credit risk management, cost efficiency, and genuine loan growth in a sluggish economy. In this new environment, maintaining headline profits will be far harder, even before accounting for the dilutive impact of recapitalisation.
That dilution is another underappreciated consequence of the capital rush. Massive share issuances mean that even if banks manage to sustain absolute profit levels, earnings per share and return on equity are likely to decline. Zenith, Access, UBA, and others are dramatically increasing their share counts. The same earnings pie is now being divided among many more shareholders, making individual returns leaner than during the pre-recapitalisation boom. For investors, the optics of strong profits may soon give way to the reality of weaker per-share performance.
Yet banks have pressed ahead, not only out of regulatory necessity but also strategic calculation.
During this period of recapitalization, investors are interested in the stock market with optimism, especially about bank shares, as banks are raising fresh capital, and this makes it easier to attract investments. This has become a season for the management teams to seize the moment to raise funds at relatively attractive valuations, strengthen ownership positions, and position themselves for post-recapitalisation dominance. In several cases, major shareholders and insiders have increased their stakes, as projected in the media, signalling confidence in long-term prospects even as near-term returns face pressure.
There is also a broader structural ambition at play. Well-capitalised banks can take on larger single obligor exposures, finance infrastructure projects, expand regionally, and compete more credibly with pan-African and global peers. From this perspective, recapitalisation is not merely about compliance but about reshaping the competitive hierarchy of Nigerian banking. What will be witnessed in the industry is that those who succeed will emerge larger, fewer, and more powerful. Those that fail will be forced into consolidation, retreat, or irrelevance.
For the wider economy, the outcome is ambiguous. Stronger banks with deeper capital buffers could improve systemic stability and enhance Nigeria’s ability to fund long-term development. The point is that while merging or consolidating banks may make them safer, it can also harm the market and the economy because it will reduce competition, let a few banks dominate, and encourage them to earn easy money from bonds and fees instead of funding real businesses. The truth be told, injecting more capital into the banks without complementary reforms in credit infrastructure, risk-sharing mechanisms, and fiscal discipline, isn’t enough as the aforementioned reforms are also needed.
The rush as exposed in this period, is that the moment Nigerian banks started raising new capital, the glaring reality behind their reported profits became clearer, that profits weren’t purely from good management, while the financial industry is not as sound and strong as its headline figures. The fact that trillion-naira profit banks must return repeatedly to shareholders for fresh capital is not a sign of excess strength, but of structural imbalance.
With the deadline for banks to raise new capital coming soon, by 31 March 2026, the focus has shifted from just raising N500 billion. N200 billion or N50 billion to think about the future shape and quality of Nigeria’s financial industry, or what it will actually look like afterward. Will recapitalisation mark a turning point toward deeper intermediation, lower dependence on speculative gains, and stronger support for economic growth? Or will it simply reset the numbers while leaving underlying incentives unchanged?
The answer will define the next chapter of Nigerian banking long after the capital market roadshows have ended and the profit headlines have faded.
Blaise, a journalist and PR professional, writes from Lagos and can be reached via: [email protected]
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