The crisis at Paystack, the crown jewel of Nigeria’s tech ecosystem, has escalated into an open confrontation between its board and its co-founder.
On Saturday, November 22, the payments company terminated the employment of Ezra Olubi, its co-founder and Chief Technology Officer. The decision comes less than two weeks after allegations of sexual misconduct involving a subordinate surfaced on social media, prompting his initial suspension.
However, in a statement shortly after his exit, Olubi claimed the termination violated the company’s internal due process. He alleges the decision was made before the independent investigation had concluded and that he was denied a hearing to defend himself.
“This decision was taken… without any meeting, hearing, or opportunity for me to respond to the issues raised, in clear contravention of the terms of the suspension and Paystack’s own internal policies,” Olubi wrote.
The dispute threatens to drag Stripe — the $65bn US fintech giant that acquired Paystack in 2020 — into a messy, public legal battle in Nigeria, a market it views as a strategic beachhead for global expansion.
The Breakdown of Due Process?
The sequence of events raises questions about the governance mechanisms at one of Africa’s most mature startups.
- November 12: Allegations of sexual misconduct surface on X (formerly Twitter).
- November 14: Paystack announces Olubi’s suspension and the commencement of an “independent investigation.”
- November 22: Olubi is terminated.
According to Olubi, the investigation was still ongoing when the board pulled the trigger. “I engaged with this investigation in good faith… This created a vacuum that allowed assumptions and misrepresentations to spread without challenge,” he stated.
Legal experts suggest that if Paystack’s board bypassed its own investigative mandate to expedite the termination, it could face wrongful termination suits. The move may have been driven by a desire to insulate the broader Stripe brand from the deepening scandal, which has been compounded by the resurfacing of explicit, decade-old tweets from Olubi’s personal account.
A “Scandal a Year” Culture
The Paystack fallout is the latest in a series of annual leadership implosions that have rocked the Nigerian tech scene, forcing investors to re-evaluate their due diligence processes.
- 2025 (Bento Africa): CEO Ebun Okubanjo resigned earlier this year amid tax evasion probes by the Lagos Inland Revenue Service (LIRS) and the EFCC.
- 2023 (Patricia): The crypto exchange unilaterally converted user assets to a debt token following a hack, leading to accusations of an “exit scam.”
- 2022 (Risevest): CEO Eke Urum was forced to step aside following an investigation into workplace impropriety.
For international investors, the pattern is worrying. While the ecosystem produces high-growth ventures, the “key man risk” remains exceptionally high. The collapse of governance at Bento — a B2B payroll provider — already shook trust in the infrastructure layer of Nigerian tech. Now, with Paystack’s leadership crisis, even the ecosystem’s most successful exit is showing cracks.
Stripe’s Silence
Stripe has yet to issue a separate statement regarding the termination of the co-founder of its Nigerian subsidiary. The US parent company has generally allowed Paystack to operate with a high degree of autonomy since the $200m acquisition.
However, that autonomy is likely to be curtailed. Sources close to the situation suggest that Stripe may now move to install more direct oversight or replace the local founding culture with its own corporate governance playbook.
Olubi has retained legal counsel and indicated that his team is “reviewing the process” for consistency with internal policies. “They will take the steps they consider appropriate,” he warned.