Oluebube Okoro (pseudonym), a banker in Lagos State, invested N3.2 million with Emerald Farms, owned by Emadia Oghale, in 2021 hoping it would proceed as smoothly as her first investment with the company in 2020. Today, almost four years later, her hope of recovering her money remains uncertain.

Okoro told EQ that she employed the services of a lawyer and a debt-retrieving firm to get Oghale to refund her money in full after it dawned on her that Emerald Farms was a scheme to take people’s hard-earned money, but her efforts were unsuccessful.

She said that before investing her money, she visited the company’s former head office and spoke with Oghale, who assured her of a monthly 15 per cent return on investment for three months.

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To find out if Oghale’s claims were true, Okoro invested N500,000 in December 2020. In March 2021, she said, she got the full returns on that investment. This convinced her to invest N3.2 million in June 2021 to earn N3.7 million.

Screenshot showing when Okoro invested the hanging N3.2m

“I thought I had done my due diligence, but I later realised it was a Ponzi scheme,” Okoro told EQ.

“After my second investment, she failed to pay the monthly return on investment and refused to return my capital. She then started telling me stories.”

Okoro said that Oghale blamed her inability to pay investors on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). But during this period, Oghale refused to communicate directly with her.

In November 2021, Oghale paid N500,000 to Okoro after the Zone A Police Command in Lagos intervened. The following month, Oghale wrote a letter of undertaking at the police command, stating that she would pay N200,000 to Okoro monthly beginning in January 2022, but she paid only twice.

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“The straw that broke the camel’s back was when Oghale refused to honour the invitation from the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) at Alagbon. This was the second invitation from the police she ignored. The first invitation she got was from Maroko Police Station. All she has done is lie,” she said.

Oghale’s letter of undertaking

“It’s now almost four years, and my money is still hanging. She owes me N2.8 million. Since she left her office in 2022, we’ve not been able to see her or know the state of our money.”

EQ called Oghale on Friday for comments, but her line was busy throughout. A text sent to her remained unanswered at press time.
The post Banker’s N2.8m Still Hanging 4 Years After She Invested in Emadia Oghale’s Emerald Farms appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.