Risevest suspends executive over ethnic slur posts

Nigerian investment platform Risevest has suspended a senior executive after old social media posts containing ethnic slurs against Yoruba women resurfaced online, sparking public outrage and raising fresh questions about accountability in the country’s tech sector.

The posts, shared widely on X, date back to around 2013 and were made from an account identified as @Cuntosaur, allegedly linked to Otas Evbuomwan, the company’s operations lead. The messages included repeated derogatory remarks about Yoruba women.

The situation escalated after a user, @pontrol_777, posted screenshots claiming the executive had also sent abusive direct messages in recent days, defending the earlier comments and issuing new insults. The account linked to the posts has since been set to private.

In a statement, Risevest said it had launched an internal review and suspended the staff member involved.

“Following an internal review, the staff member involved has been placed on immediate suspension while we assess her conduct and interactions within the team,” the company said.

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Risevest added that it does not tolerate tribalism or bigotry, stressing that such behaviour contradicts its values.

Eke Urum, the company’s chief executive officer, said he became aware of the posts late and escalated the issue immediately to the leadership team. He described the content as serious and not something that could be dismissed lightly.

“Risevest was started as a company that is a home to everyone who wants to do great work, with respect and love for every group of people,” he said, adding that investigations so far showed no evidence that the posts reflected the executive’s behaviour within the workplace.

The company later reached out privately to the complainant, according to the user, and apologised on behalf of the executive. It also noted that a majority of its ownership is Yoruba, making the remarks particularly sensitive.

Bosun Olanrewaju, co-founder, was reported to have said the executive would be required to make her account public again and issue a formal apology to the Yoruba community.

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However, the user at the centre of the complaints said the issue had grown beyond a personal dispute, noting that many Yoruba women were closely following developments and expected stronger action.

Risevest, founded in 2019 by Urum, Olanrewaju and Tony Odiba, allows Nigerians to invest in dollar-denominated assets. The company has not officially named the executive involved.

The incident highlights growing scrutiny of personal conduct in Nigeria’s fast-growing tech industry, where startups are increasingly held to global standards on diversity, inclusion and corporate culture.

It also shows how past online behaviour, even years before a company’s founding, can quickly become a reputational risk in the age of social media, forcing firms to balance internal due process with rising public pressure for swift and decisive action.