April 11, (THEWILL) – This obviously is not the best of times for the youthful Chief Executive Officer of Flutterwave, Gbenga Agboola, who seems to be pitted against certain forces threatening the career he has built over the years. A former member of the company’s staff, Clara Wanjiku, who resigned from its East Africa operation in 2018 made a revelation about her exit from the company. She accused Agboola of bullying and harassing her for years and withholding her dues, which the company promised to pay after she must have returned its properties in her possession.
After she threatened to drag the company to court if it failed to pay her, Agboola dared her to go ahead. Her Lawyer, Obinna Osisiogu, then wrote to Flutterwave and it led to a series of calls from colleagues asking her to settle out of court. In a back and forth court case, Wanjiku was later paid her entitlement.
She also accused Agboola of sabotaging a job opportunity she got in Nigeria after her former employer gave a negative appraisal which led to the loss of the job. Also, while she was still with Futterwave, she was the contact person for the company’s pay bill service in collaboration with Mpesa, (a mobile phone-based money transfer service, payment and micro-financing service launched by Vodafone and Safaricom in Kenya).
Even after leaving the company, Wanjiku’s contact was still on the Mpesa pay bill. When a fraud was committed in a transaction that involved Fluttewave, she was held responsible. She informed Agboola of the resulting harassment from the police and he promised to settle the matter, but he never did. She was left to settle it alone, in spite of her innocence.
Wanjiku added that Agboola later granted an interview to the media in which he tried to smear her name by mentioning the Mpesa issue in an attempt to make her look untrustworthy. She also revealed that Flutterwave accused her of opening a Twitter account to constantly allege that sexual harassment was going on in the company. Wondering when the harassment on her life would end, Wanjiku had no choice but to speak out.
“It ends today. I am speaking up because when does it stop? When do I stop being the target of a powerful man trying to stick it to me for standing up for myself?,” she asked.
Flutterwave has however denied the allegations, faulting claims that Wanjiku wasn’t paid her dues by the company immediately she resigned.
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