CBN investigating Oniwinde Adedotun, abokiFX founder, for ‘illegal’ forex trading

CBN investigating Oniwinde Adedotun, abokiFX founder, for ‘illegal’ forex trading

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is investigating Oniwinde Adedotun, the founder of abokiFX.

Sources within the apex bank told TheCable on Thursday night that Adedotun and abokiFX Limited are currently under investigation for “illegal foreign exchange transactions”.

AbokiFX is a web platform that reports movements in the foreign exchange market since as early as 2014. On Thursday, abokiFX reported that the naira was trading at 570 to the dollar at the parallel market.

An insider, familiar with the events, told TheCable that “unusual forex transactions” were found in his account, suggesting the promoters of the platform have been involved in illegal forex trading.

The apex bank is said to be investigating seven accounts belonging to Adedotun and abokiFX, vetting every forex transaction from 2019 till 2021.

Reports on social media claim that Adedotun is being investigated for foreign exchange rate manipulation, but another source within the bank said he could not confirm the rumours.

“There would be a lot more clarity after the next monetary policy committee (MPC) meeting tomorrow,” the source said.

AbokiFX, registered in Arizona, United States, is the 63rd most visited website in Nigeria as of September 16, 2021.

The apex bank had initially scheduled its MPC meeting for September 20 and 21, but had to reschedule to September 16 and 17, 2021 — but no reason was given for the move.

Godwin Emefiele, the governor of the CBN, will address the media on Friday to announce fresh MPC decisions.