Lawrence Eyenese, a resident of Bayelsa, was waiting to cast his vote on February 25 when he learned N371,000 had been debited from his Piggyvest account.

The Bayelsan told FIJ he had fallen into depression since then because it was all he had to complete his master’s degree project.

Eyenese said he contacted Piggyvest right at his polling unit via email and provided a receipt of the transaction but the financial platform assured him it would investigate the issue and trace the recipient of the transaction.

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“The following day, I had to complain on Twitter since they were not forthcoming. Two days later, I received a mail from the bank. They said they were working with their payment partners to track the funds and see if they could recoup my money. But the mail came only after there was a social media reaction,” Eyenese told FIJ.

“When I took out my time to go through their timeline, I found that several others had complained about similar instances. I took solace in the fact that I was not the only one who was affected.”

He said since he first contacted the bank in late February, nothing positive had come out of it. He also accused the bank of treating his case with levity.

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“They have been nonchalant. I reached out to them via a call. I asked the rep who spoke to me why Piggyvest and their payment partner had failed to refund me, and she hung up the phone. When I complained immediately after that on Twitter, they said they were sorry for the inconvenience,” he said.

“They have been playing hide and seek with me. How long does it take their payment partner to track the funds? I have suffered depression in all this because I need the cash for my MSc project. It has been pathetic. Surviving has not been easy.”

When FIJ contacted Piggyvest via email, the bank did not respond except for an automated message.