Adeoye bowed out of service in April after 35 years of
service, 10 months of which he led the police command in Anambra state.
BACKGROUND
In January 2024, a group had petitioned Kayode Egbetokun,
the inspector general of police (IGP), asking him to intervene in an alleged
case of fraud and misappropriation of funds by Adeoye.
The group accused him of operating a “Ponzi scheme” and
misappropriating funds meant for investments in Alpha Trust Investment Club
(ATIC), the cooperative co-founded by him.
He denied the allegations in his response to TheCable at the
time.
‘SHOW ME THE CLIP’
In his TV appearance on Friday, Adeoye asked the hosts to
provide the clip where he said he was now a billionaire as reported.
“I have never said
anything of such. I weigh my words before I utter them and every word say, I
say in good faith. I never said I am now a billionaire and anyone who has proof
to the contrary is challenged to produce it,” he said.
“Now, as to whether I have used my office (by running an
investment club). Those who make their assertion should also prove that if they
have evidence.
“Civil service rules and police code of conduct do not bar
anyone from investing. There is no law against buying shares. There is no law
against investing in land or property. The only thing is that you must be able
to justify the means. Civil servants belong to cooperatives. I am a member of
the police cooperative. There is no law against it.”
He said during his service period, he equipped himself
through trainings in Nigeria and abroad and gained financial education, leading
to the establishment of an investment club in 2018 by members of a from he had
lectured.
On the allegation that a search at Corporate Affairs
Commission (CAC) and on Google failed to establish that the club was legally
registered, he said he did the same search himself and found several entries
that explained to the world what the investment club does and its mode of
operation.
“It is an investment club that has a loan arm that is
registered with the Lagos state government as a cooperative and we are
registered with the CAC. I have our certificate of registration here, and I
hereby display it for the world to see. Not only are we registered with the
CAC, our annual filings are up to date with them,” he said.
“Like I mentioned
earlier, our known arm is also registered with the state government as a
cooperative. Here is our SCUML certificate issued by the EFCC. So you can begin
to see when someone says we don’t exist, we are not registered, and I’ve shown
evidence that we are, including registration with the EFCC.
“The inspector general of police is a disciplinarian. He
does not tolerate nonsense and the IG will not condone an officer going into
anything that is against the ethics of the job, and will look on. The IG never
does that.
“The IG forwarded the petition to me in the spirit of
fairness, and I replied, addressing every issue that was raised in the
petition. He was satisfied.”
He said the club pays all the taxes related to its
transactions and the accounts are available to its 1,400 members, some of whom
are based in Europe.
The club has communicated with the Federal Inland Revenue
Service (FIRS) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to find out if
its activities are within their purviews, he disclosed.
‘EXPELLED MEMBERS
BEHIND CAMPAIGN AGAINST ME’
Adeoye blamed the fraud allegations on some “renegade”
members of the club who were expelled “for criminal activities”.
He clarified that the name of the club he founded is Alpha
Trust Investment Club, adding that it is an investment forum and not a limited
liability company.
“Our purpose is to invest, not to do business. So we don’t
have an office. We don’t have overhead costs, we have no employees, we don’t
pay salaries, we don’t run generator, we have no official cars, we don’t refund
the expenses of any kind,” he said.
“We never campaigned publicly for membership. Our members
inform their relations and friends who might be interested and for the five
years of our existence, we have paid dividends every year without fail. We pay
dividends once a year.
“Our membership due is N5,000 per member per annum. You must
be a Nigerian, irrespective of where you are domiciled in the world. You must
have a visible means of livelihood, which we verify. Usually we demand to see
workplace identity card and we do further to verify. We do background check.
“We insist that any member we are to admit must not have a
criminal record or a pending criminal matter at any police formation in
Nigeria. Those who are pending matters with EFCC are excluded. Majority of our
members are Nigerian professionals all over the world.”
