A Rivers State-based equipment maintenance technician, Matthew Akinwale Dada, has accused First Bank of Nigeria and Access Bank of failing to reverse N500,000 he mistakenly transferred into the First Bank account of his late father-in-law since December 22, 2025.
Dada told the Foundation for Investigative Journalism on Monday that the money was meant to be transferred to his wife, Jemialu Oluwatoyin Janet, for safekeeping ahead of their son’s school fees payment in January.
According to him, he mistakenly sent the money to his late father-in-law’s First Bank account because both his wife and her father banked with First Bank.
He said the transfer was made from his Access Bank account and that all efforts to recover the money had failed despite repeated complaints to both banks and the submission of a court order.
“I wanted to transfer N500,000 to my wife on December 22, 2025, so she could keep it for my son’s school fees against January, but unfortunately, I mistakenly transferred it to my late father-in-law’s account instead,” Dada said.
“Both my wife and her father bank with First Bank of Nigeria, but I made the transfer through my Access Bank account.
“Immediately I discovered the mistake, I called Access Bank customer care and explained everything to them. My wife also contacted First Bank customer care, and both banks confirmed that the transaction was successful.”
Dada said despite reporting the erroneous transfer immediately, both banks repeatedly assured him that the issue would be resolved within 24 hours, but the money has remained unreversed months after.
“I called both First Bank and Access Bank several times and sent emails almost every week,” he said.
“They both responded and kept promising that the issue would be resolved within 24 hours, but nothing positive has happened till this moment.”
He further explained that after several complaints, the banks requested a court order before the reversal process could be activated.
Dada said he obtained the court order and submitted the required documents to both banks in February, but the funds were still not returned.
“At some point, both banks asked for a court order before they could activate the reversal process,” he said.
“I submitted a copy of the court order to Access Bank through email and also submitted the original hard copy to First Bank at its Rumudara branch in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on February 2.
“Still, there has been no positive outcome from both banks.”
Dada also alleged that Access Bank later requested his consent to deduct N8,068 from his account for verification of the court order submitted to First Bank.
According to him, Access Bank claimed that the verification request came from First Bank.
“On March 3, Access Bank replied to one of my emails concerning the erroneous transfer,” Dada said.
“They asked me to give consent for the deduction of N8,068 from my Access Bank account to verify the authenticity of the court order I submitted to First Bank, claiming that First Bank requested it.
“I gave them written permission to conduct the verification, although I do not know whether the money has been deducted from my account. They, however, acknowledged receipt of my consent.”
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