By Jaiyeola Ajasa
The founding owners of Access Bank were Ijesas. They were led by Chief Farodoye. Another major shareholder at inception was Chief Lawrence Omole.The bank was a small bank that regarded as not well-run.
In the course of multiple re-capitalization exercises dictated for all banks by the CBN, the ownership of the bank was diluted.
The last MD appointed by the original shareholding group was Tokunbo Aromolaran. At that point, th bank had been listed on the stock exchange as were all banks.
Somehow, Aig Imokhuede and Herbert Wigwe, who were AGMs at GT Bank established a vehicle that secretly mopped up lots of the shares of the bank without the knowledge of the major shareholders. The funding was believed to be from Intercontinental Bank facility. Once they secured controlling shares, they consolidated their holdings and notified the authorities of their desire to take over the governance of the bank. They did everything by the rules, except that they did so clandestinely.
Once they took over, they re-engineered the bank aggressively. They also massively recapitalized the bank, thereby sidelining the old shareholders.
Aig. Imokhuede took over as MD. After ten years, he retired and Herbert took over. One remarkable thing the duo did was to acquire Intercontinental Bank in very controversial circumstances during the last banking crisis leading to the compulsory sack of some bank executives.
*All traces of Ijesa in the ownership of Access Bank were removed several years ago*
May Herbert’s soul rest in peace. I however look at the story of Access Bank from another prism based on my inside knowledge of what happened. The story of Access Bank can’t be complete without looking at it’s foundation. The money to buy Access Bank didn’t come from any investors but a loan of about N16B from Intercontinental Bank (IB) managed by Akingbola. It was Akingbola that gave them that break to buy Access. That money was never paid back. Sanusi (Aig’s school mate at KC)as the CBN gov declared IB insolvent and put it up for sale. It was offered to Aig and Access Bank for N50b. A bank that was many times the size of Access bank. A bank with 350 branches offered for such ridiculous sum. Check the records, no other bank has been so cheaply sold in Nigeria. Access Bank didn’t have the money but Evelyn Oputu of BOI who is Aig’s mother in-law gave them the loan to buy IB. They paid the funds, took over the bank and then refunded the loan the next day. It was the biggest scam in Nigeria banking history. Of course the N16B loan was never repaid. I want to be clear that this is not talking evil of the dead but setting the records straight. I do not hold the Access scam against Herbert personally but I can’t keep quiet when records are being misrepresented. Akingbola was literally destroyed. But all said and done, to what purpose is our rat race and wealth acquisition. May the souls of Herbert, his family and others in this accident rest in peace.
Good morning to all our distinguished Leaders in the House. Happy Ash Wednesday and God bless 🙏
NB: Culled from Jaiyeole Ajasa’s Facebook page
