Imu Ovaioza Yunusa, the founder and CEO of Ovaioza Farm Produce Storage Business (OFPSB), has claimed that issues with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are affecting her business and her account.

Ovaioza made the claim on her official Facebook page in response to allegations she defrauded numerous investors to the tune of several billions of naira.

“My lawyer duly reached out to SEC and reported back to me (I was not the one who went to SEC) that SEC said they don’t regulate buying and selling. I must also admit that maybe we should have made a written application requesting for SEC to register my business, but unfortunately, we did not do so,” the statement read in part.

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She claimed that ignorance as a trader made her not seek out SEC previously.

“I must admit my ignorance as to the extent of corporate compliance that is necessary for my buying and selling business, especially as the business grew, owing to funds sought from the public,” she said.

“Again, I am only a trader, versed in the craft of buying and selling, but a lay man in the legal expectations and commitment from such business.

However, when it was brought to my notice my business requires registration with Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), I asked my lawyer to reach out to SEC to ensure the needful was done. I did this to ensure that my interest and the collective interest of my partners are protected by law.”

Ovaioza runs OFPSB, supposedly a food storage business, through which she crowdfunds to buy foodstuff during the harvest season, stores it and sells it during the planting season. According to her, partners’ profits are undefined and not fixed.

In the past months, she has been defaulting, neither paying partners their profits nor returning their capital. She has also not been answering enquiries.

In a previous post, she had claimed that her personal account is frozen due to a petition submitted to SEC, but her partner’s money is in the market.

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“Therefore, I am continuing the process of massive distribution/sales and everyone’s funds will be returned to them as they sell in the market,” she said.

“From storage to buying and selling, everything in the market will be sold and monies returned. Those in storage will be distributed too, accordingly. It is a process and I will see it through. It requires a lot of work but it is what is expected.”

It has been alleged that Ovaioza has moved out of her home in Abuja, further fuelling claims that she won’t be returning investors’ money.

Although she received sympathy from some of those who commented on the post, majority censured her, with one, Temi Dayo, writing: “I prayed and wished you good, based on your pledge to make restitution to the victims of your scam. I, like others, believed that you had good intentions but dabbled into business you did not know well and made people lose their money. We thought you had made a mistake and hoped that somehow this would speak for you. Clearly I was misled.

“Dr. Obinna was misled. Barr. Azubuike was misled. You played us all. The allegations against you are terrible and weighty. And there are facts backing all these.You do NOT have any farm. You leased buildings and businesses and called them yours. You did not do any storage business for even one day. You bribed people to pose and give you credibility whenever anyone came to check on you. You took people’s money in millions and started to give them back in piecemeal to deceive them that they were making profits from their ‘capital’. The rogues in SEC that planned with you to prepare that armed robbery letter are already in trouble. Try to show your face in SEC office again. Christ! You are just a thief, Ovaioza. A two-bit fraud. I don’t expect you to answer and I’m sure you will go on a blocking spree soon since you already limited who can comment on this post.You apologised to Barr. Azu. You even went as far as swearing that you were tired and ready to forfeit all your properties and start your life from scratch off Facebook, doing your 911 trailer hustling of selling palm produce with your own money. You made us believe you were a simple, unassuming young woman who lost her way and was ready to make amends and restitution. Then you turned around to stab him and the people you already defrauded in the back a second time. You are daring forces beyond your comprehension. Forget whatever love and light prayers you have received here. ‘God punish you and God bless you’ have the same weight of Zero in reality. It is humans that curse or bless themselves with their choices.

“We are all praying for you here but you are clearly a curse unto your own self. This is what matters at the end of everything. Don’t dare posterity. You will eat from the sewer of lifelong disgrace and poverty if you do not sell off those properties you promised that you’d sell and pay EVERYONE something. Your words have indicted you already. For going back on your pledge, you are already a curse to yourself. You will cry in all the places you have laughed. You will strip and debase yourself in all the fields and rooms you have danced in. Everything that gives joy will be a source of pain and misery to you. Ovaioza, the sun will go off for you in the afternoon. You will not live to enjoy these monies you have stolen. Make restitution to every single person you stole from starting today. Unless you are planning for your mother to wear black for you.”