In September 2020, Ezekiel Dayo, a medical doctor resident in the United States of America (USA), invested $50,000 in Farm Buddy. But he never got his money back.

Dayo told FIJ that he invested in the agro-tech company in 2019, and they paid him when due. The following year, Abraham Budale, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Farm Buddy, approached him and asked him to lend the company $50,000.

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Dayo said his findings showed that Budale had invested in real estate. So he believed he would pay him by the end of the agreement. But it was not so.

“He promised to pay an interest of 40 percent on the loan. He said he would pay the interest quarterly. We had a contract that he would return the capital after a year with the entire interest paid.

“I transferred $50,000 in dollars to Abraham Budale in dollars to his Nigerian dollar account. Budale paid the first and second quarterly interest payments. Then he stopped making payments, and allowed the loan term to expire without the interest payment.”

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Dayo said he tried to contact Budale, but it yielded no successful outcome. He said he made it hard for anyone to reach him and had gone incommunicado.

“When I kept calling him, I saw that he was inconsistent. He would promise to pay and not pay. After a while, he stopped picking up my calls. Now, my $50,000 is stuck with him,” he said.

FIJ placed several calls to Budale, but his line did not connect. He had not replied to a text sent to him at press time.