By Our Correspondent
The immediate past Commissioner of Police in Anambra State, Aderemi Adeoye, has debunked the allegation that he was operating a Ponzi scheme while in service.
Adeoye spoke as a guest on Arise News TV on Friday while reacting on the operation of his investment company, the Alpha Trust Investment Club which has 1400 members with a network of about N20 billion.
The retired CP had been in the news since he was pulled out of the Nigeria Police Force after 35 years of service.
During the ceremony in Awka, Adeoye, who joined the Nigeria Police as a constable, even though he had a university degree, told his audience at the Alex Ekwueme Square, how the investment company he founded with some Facebook friends, is now worth about N20 billion.
Following the controversy that has trailed his pronouncement on the investment outfit, there were insinuations as to how the retired CP had time to engage in such a multi million naira venture.
Adeoye, as a guest on Arise News TV
said: “The people of Anambra State knew that I did my work diligently. It has never happened in the history of Anambra State that a retiring CP should be conferred with two chieftaincy titles by two communities and a street named after me.
I am Nnwane Di na mba 1 of Omasi Kingdom and I am Dike Ochioha 1 of Ogbunka Kingdom. I received these titles within a space of one week. The street named after me is by the Governor’s Lodge in Awka. Also, Africa Trust Magazine declared me man of year and went down memory lane to capture what we did in terms of security.
So I did not abuse my office. I served for 35 years without attracting any query.”
Asked to clarify the operations of the controversial outfit he has been managing and the ownership structure of the organization, Adeoye added:
“The name of this organization is Alfa Trust Investment Club. Our loan arm is registered as Artic Cooperative Multipurpose Society Limited, which is registered with the Lagos State Government.
“We carry on investment under the business name of Artic Ventures and Business Services and that is the name that is registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). We would have liked to register our full name as it is, but CAC did not approve that.
“Basically when we started in 2018, all the 177 founding members were my facebook friends and they were drawn from an investment forum where I had lectured for free for years. The members requested that this thing we are doing as a hubby can assist somebody and that we can pull resources together to do some legal investment.
“I was mandated to set the process in motion to ensure that everyone who would participate will willingly do so.The 177 members were then migrated to the Investment outfit. Subsequently, on yearly, basis, we admit members. These my friends invited their family members and friends to join. That is how we grow. We don’t solicit for membership. For five years of our existence, we pay dividends every year without fail. Our purpose is to invest, not to do business.
“So we don’t have an office, we don’t have overhead costs, we don’t have employees, we don’t pay salaries, we don’t have generator, we don’t have official cars, The only thing the officials of the club spend is their data which is seen as their individual contributions to the growth of the club. The only thing we spend money on is organizing our physical meetings and this is paid for by membership dues, which is N5000 per member, per annum.
“For anybody to be a member, he must be a Nigerian, irrespective of where he resides in the world. The person must have visible means of livelihood which is verified.
“Usually, we demand to see work place identity card and we go further to verify it. We do background checks and we insist that any member we admit must not have any criminal record.
“Those who have pending matters with EFCC are excluded. Majority of our members are Nigerian professionals all over the world. Once admitted, the person indicates the number of shares he or she wants to buy, subject to a minimum of 50,000 units”.
On whether the outfit has audited accounts, Adeoye said the organization is only an outline investment entity.
