University Student Refunds 500k Wrongly Credited To His Account

A student of the University of Ilorin known as Ahmed Adebowale recently returned N500,000 mistakenly sent to his Guarantee Trust Bank (GTB) by a certain Oladejo David Damola whom he didn't know.

He said although he was unsettled in his heart about where the money came from, he couldn’t visit the bank to make a complaint because the transfer occurred during a public holiday.

“I woke up that morning to see a credit alert of N500,000. I was shocked because I was not expecting such an amount from anyone at that point in time, I was also bothered as I couldn’t formally complain at the bank due to the public holiday. However, I kept my cool and was expectant.” Adebowale said 

He also stated that an individual who claimed to be the sender rang his phone the following day pleading for the money to be sent back to him. He then explained to the individual that until and unless there was proof that he was the rightful owner of the account, he wouldn't be making any transfer. 

“I got a strange call from someone who claimed to have sent the money mistakenly. I asked him for proof that he sent the money to me, “He proved it, and we agreed that I would send him N100,000 each day until December 29 because I had issues with my bank app at the time.He didn’t believe I was ready to send his refund until he got the first tranche.

“I ended up sending N499,000 to him due to bank charges. He was even the one who suggested that.The man was excited beyond words and could not stop praying for me.”

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Speaking to a staff of the Foundation For Investigative Journalism on why he chose to refund the money, Adebowale said that though he was badly in need of money during that period, his moral upbringing wouldn't let him keep the money.

“Honestly, it was largely a result of my upbringing and moral understanding. I don’t take what does not belong to me, and integrity is of utmost priority to me,” 

“Another thing is that I have a name to protect and I can’t afford to make my parent sad or ever regret their investments in me as a result of my refusal to return it.

“I returned it not because of anything as I was broke too at the time. I had to because the money was not meant for me, and that was the right thing to do.”