N750 Million Dispute: Firm Petitions IGP, Alleges Funds Moved Before Court Ruling

Wale Igbintade

Kudiwave Technologies Limited has petitioned the Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, over the alleged transfer of N750.37 million from its PalmPay account, asking for an independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding the movement and continued withholding of the funds.

The company also challenged the position of the Police Special Fraud Unit (SFU), Ikoyi, that the funds were linked to an alleged “round-tripping” scheme involving Master Solution Concept Limited, Kredilink Technologies Limited, Nexall Technologies Limited and other entities.

In the petition dated September 14, 2026, Kudiwave, through its solicitor, Tony Eseigbe & Co., alleged that the SFU had linked the N750 million in its account to funds said to have originated from United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA) and moved through other companies.

The company, however, maintained that the transaction records did not support that position, insisting that it received the money from Nexall Technologies Limited in a legitimate commercial transaction in exchange for corresponding digital-asset value.

The petition has added a fresh dimension to an already protracted dispute over the funds, which were transferred from Kudiwave’s PalmPay account on July 15, 2026, while the company’s challenge to an earlier Federal High Court order was pending.

Kudiwave’s position is that the transfer occurred before the court delivered its ruling on July 22, which subsequently set aside, vacated and discharged the earlier order and directed the removal of restrictions on its account.

PalmPay has however maintained that the June 29 order was valid, binding and enforceable when the transfer took place and that it acted strictly in compliance with the court’s directive.

According to the petition, the transaction trail began with dealings involving Master Solution, Kredilink and Nexall.

Kredilink’s founder, Opeyemi Dairo, was quoted as saying that he was introduced to Master Solution around March 5, 2026, after the company represented itself as a merchant dealing with Nomba Bank and requiring fiat-to-digital-asset settlement services.

The petition said a Know-Your-Business process was completed, followed by a test transaction of $3,556.18, before further transactions were conducted.

It also quoted Nexall’s Operations Lead and co-founder, Ayandoye Pelumi Olawale, as saying that on March 28, 2026, Kudiwave requested liquidity from Nexall in exchange for USDT.

According to Kudiwave, Nexall sourced naira from several independent counterparties, including N200 million provided by Kredilink from a Nom Bank MFB account.

The petition said the N200 million from Kredilink was only one of several inflows into Nexall’s account that day.

It listed other inflows as N199.8 million from Fintrix Technologies Limited, N282.4 million from Sturdi-Steel Nigeria Limited and N101,697,888 from GreatRex Global Concepts, bringing the identified inflows to N783,897,888.

Nexall subsequently transferred N750 million to Kudiwave’s PalmPay account in three separate transactions of N250 million each, according to the petition.

Kudiwave is challenging the basis for treating the entire N750 million as proceeds of an alleged transaction involving UBA, particularly when, according to the company, only N100 million of Kredilink’s N200 million transaction was allegedly flagged.

The company also referred to a separate Federal High Court case, United Bank for Africa Plc v. Master Solution Concept Limited & 21 Ors, marked FHC/L/CS/680/2026.

It said an order made in that matter on April 1, 2026, concerned an alleged erroneous transfer of N713,913,076.32.

Kudiwave stressed that neither Nexall nor Kudiwave was joined as a defendant in the UBA suit and maintained that the N713.9 million referred to in that case was different from the N750 million eventually transferred to its PalmPay account.

Counsel to Kudiwave, Prince Kalu, alleged the N750 million was transferred on July 15, seven days before the Federal High Court delivered its ruling on the company’s application challenging the June 29 order.

According to him, the June 29 order directed the movement of funds from Kudiwave’s account to a designated Police Exhibit Account.

Kalu said the order was served on the parties on July 1, following which Kudiwave filed an application on July 3 seeking a stay of execution and an order setting aside the directive.

He said the application was argued on July 13, with the court reserving its ruling for July 22.

Kalu alleged that despite the pending application, the N750 million was moved on July 15.

He further alleged that the funds were not transferred to the Police Exhibit Account specified in the order but to a PalmPay business account with Access Bank.

“The order of June 29 said, ‘Move this money from the account of Kudiwave to Police Exhibit Account,’ with their account number. And what they did on July 15 was to move the money to their own business account in Access Bank,” he said.

The allegation has been disputed by PalmPay, which has maintained that the transfer was made pursuant to a valid court order and that it did not act on its own initiative.

Earlier reporting on the dispute records PalmPay’s position that the funds were transferred to the designated Police Recovery Account in compliance with the order.

According to Kudiwave, Justice Ibrahim Kala of the Federal High Court subsequently ruled on July 22, setting aside, vacating and discharging the June 29 order and directing that restrictions on the company’s account be removed.

The company said PalmPay, in a letter dated July 28, notified the SFU of the ruling and requested the return of N750,369,439.04 from the Police Recovery Account to Kudiwave’s PalmPay account.

Kudiwave said it became concerned about the whereabouts of the funds after attempting to access the account following the court’s ruling.

Kalu said the company discovered that the money was no longer in the account.

PalmPay, however, has maintained that it complied with the court order when the transfer was made and subsequently engaged the police over implementation of the July 22 ruling.

Its position, as previously reported, is that the police became the custodians of the funds following the transfer and that any further action concerning their return should be directed to the Nigeria Police Force.

Kudiwave is now asking the IGP to order a forensic tracing of the N750 million and establish the source and movement of each payment.

The company also wants investigators to obtain the bank statements of the entities involved and examine the circumstances surrounding the arrest and detention of its representatives.

Kalu said the company was compelled to petition the IGP because of what he described as inconsistencies in the accounts given concerning the origin and movement of the funds.

He said an earlier petition had been referred to the other side for a response, but alleged that the response presented the money as having been recycled from Master Solution to Kredilink, then to Nexall and eventually to Kudiwave.

He maintained that the transaction records available to Kudiwave did not support that account.

Meanwhile, PalmPay has approached the Lagos State High Court seeking to restrain Kudiwave from making or circulating statements concerning the transfer.

In a Motion on Notice dated September 4, 2026, PalmPay asked the court to restrain Kudiwave, its servants, agents, privies and persons acting on its behalf from issuing, publishing, sponsoring or circulating statements relating to the transfer of N750,369,439.04 from Kudiwave’s account to the designated Police Recovery Account.

The application was filed pursuant to Orders 42 Rule 8 and 43 Rule 1 of the Lagos State High Court Civil Procedure Rules 2019 and the inherent jurisdiction of the court.