The financial institution that prides itself as the “Bank of the free,” Kuda, has been on the social media trend list for allegedly aiding police brutality of a customer who came to complain.
An uproar ensued after a video surfaced on Tuesday showing two men in police uniform assaulting the customer.
In the video, the customer lay on the floor while one of the two police officers held his trousers in a move to arrest him.
According to the victim’s brother, AbdulGafar Jamiu, identified as Ayam_Jamotech on Twitter, Qudus, his younger sibling, a POS operator, on Tuesday, went to the Lagos-based bank to inquire why they froze his account.
“So my brother went to @kudabankhelp office today at Yaba to find out the reason why his account was locked and yet not to be opened after dropping his proof to them that it’s legit money and not fraud money at all,” he wrote.
“So funny how when he got there this morning. They sent their mopol to arrest him and started harassing him for no reason. So every young guy’s money has to be fraud money??”
In another tweet, Mr Jamiu said his brother transferred N577,491 from his Moniepoint account on April 13 to his Kuda account.
Following the transaction, according to a screengrab of the email sent to Mr Qudus, the bank’s fraud team said they “are conducting a review with regards to the recent transactions made on your account.”
They also requested the source and purpose of the transaction.
He said the police tear-gassed, injured, and arrested his brother.
Speaking in a Twitter space tagged Kuda Bank #QudusKuda on Wednesday, with almost 1,000 listeners, Mr Jamiu said his sibling is being detained at the Okoko Police Division. He added that there are plans to take him to another division in Panti, Yaba.
Many listeners also shared their “frustrating” experiences that they have had with the bank, while they advised the brother to “get a good lawyer.”
The state police spokesperson, Benjamin Hundeyin, narrated that he had seen the video and would give an update later in the day.
The microfinance bank, in a statement, said the police arrested the customer because of alleged criminal activity on his account.
“It has come to our attention that a couple of videos are being circulated online regarding the experience of one of our customers yesterday.
“The videos show the customer being forcefully escorted off our premises by members of the Nigerian Police Force,” the statement reads.
However, the management said the financial institution licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has an “obligation to comply with the mandates of all applicable government and law enforcement agencies, supported by the appropriate documentation.
“While complying with such mandates, we liaise with the affected customers so that any pending matters between the customers and the agencies are resolved. It is also expected that such affected customers will cooperate fully with the law enforcement agencies involved to resolve each matter.”
The bank further said that their customer was manhandled because he failed to cooperate with the police, adding that they have commenced “our internal investigations into this matter and in due time, will liaise with the customer as well as the relevant law enforcement agencies to ensure that this matter is adequately addressed.”
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