Lagos Customer Spends 9 Days in Police Detention After Friends Criticised Moniepoint’s VAT Deduction

Date of Occurrence

February 18, 2026
State/Country

Lagos, Nigeria

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hree plain-clothes officers of the Nigeria Police Force stormed a residence in Egbeda, Lagos, on February 18 and whisked away Adebayo Aliu Oluwafemi, a Lagos-based digital marketer and sickle cell patient, over allegations of cyberstalking and cyberbullying linked to a complaint by Moniepoint Microfinance Bank. He was kept in unlawful detention for nine days.

Ojonugwa Matthew Audu, Oluwafemi’s roommate, told FIJ that the policemen arrived in a Sienna vehicle and initially said they were taking him to the Cybercrime Centre in Yaba. Instead, they took him to Festac Police Station before transferring him to Yaba and later flying him to the cybercrime unit of the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) in Abuja on February 20. The arrest followed widespread backlash against a 7.5 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) charge Moniepoint announced on some banking services in January, a controversial policy Audu said
Oluwafemi had criticised but never personally tweeted about HOW POLICE ARRESTED OLUWAFEMI IN EGBEDA
“On Wednesday, February 18, at about some minutes past 7 pm, three officers of the Nigeria Police Force stormed our compound in Egbeda at the behest of Moniepoint microfinance bank to arrest my roommate, Oluwafemi, on the grounds of what they called cybercrime,” Audu told FIJ.

“The officers were not in their police uniform. They were all on mufti, and they came with a Sienna, not a police van.

“What the police said was that they were taking Oluwafemi to the Cybercrime Centre in Yaba police station on the allegations of cybercrime based on the complaint filed by someone.

Actions Taken

March 11, 2026
Customer speaks out after arrest over questions on Moniepoint VAT charges

Questions about VAT charges on transactions processed through the Moniepoint platform took centre stage in Lagos on Wednesday, March 11 as a customer and his legal representatives addressed journalists over a dispute that has now moved into the courts.

At a press conference held at Excellence Hotel in Ogba, Lagos, Adebayo Ali Oluwafemi, who identified himself as a customer of the platform, recounted the events that followed after questions began circulating on social media about VAT deductions applied to certain transactions on the platform.

According to Oluwafemi, the issue began earlier this year when he received a communication from Moniepoint referencing VAT updates related to certain financial charges. Shortly afterward, he said he came across a public statement from the Nigerian Revenue Service indicating that recent tax legislation had not introduced VAT on banking fees.“As a customer, I simply wanted to understand why VAT was being applied to those charges when the public statement from the tax authorities suggested otherwise,” he said while addressing the press.

What followed, he said, escalated beyond a routine customer complaint.

Oluwafemi told journalists that police officers arrived at his residence on February 18 and took him into custody.According to him, the officers arrived at his home and took him away without prior notice. He said he was initially taken to the Festac Police Division in Lagos and later transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) at Panti, where he remained for several days while seeking clarification on the complaint that had been filed against him. During questioning, he said he later learned that the complaint was linked to the discussions surrounding VAT charges on the Moniepoint platform.

During the press conference, Oluwafemi also disclosed that he is a sickle cell patient, raising concerns about the conditions under which he was detained. He said he was held for several days without immediate access to his lawyers while trying to understand the basis of the complaint against him.

“My intention was to ask a question as a customer,” he said. “I did not expect that raising that concern would lead to an arrest.”