Bisi Onasanya’s Successor Tears First Bank Apart + How Arisekola Allegedly Sold Off The Bank

First Bank Plc, one of the leading banks in the financial sector is embroiled in internal crisis that could disintegrate the bank as you read.

According to findings, the turmoil rocking the bank is in connection with the bank’s current Managing Director Mr. Bisi Onasanya whose tenure ends soon.

In the next four years, the tenure of Mr. Stephen Onasanya expires and he would abdicate his covetous position. But at the moment that lofty position is currently polarizing the financial institutions, especially among the bank’s board of directors.

Society watchng’s findings revealed that top directors at the bank with larger shares are currently scheming on how to win over the control of the bank.

Before now, late businessman, Aare Arisekola was the largest shareholder in the bank. But before his death, he sold his shares to Oba Otudeko who has the second largest stake in the bank. While some believe that Arisekola’s sales of his stock before his death was politicized, there are speculations that he did that as not sew the seed of discord among his children who currently has enough to manage.

Unconfirmed sources revealed that; Arisekola-Alao, who had been battling with cancer; a known terminal disease for some years before the tumour eventually took his life, then decided to let go of his interest in the bank knowing that in case of his death, the principled and upright Otudeko will hand over his interest in the bank over to his family who may not be able to manage his interest in the bank well. This may subsequently force the bank into serious financial crisis. This we gathered was responsible for the decision to sell off his huge shares in the bank.

A stock market’s source however revealed that despite that Mr Otudeko can conveniently acquire the shares that would make him retain the largest share in the bank, he opted to allow others the chance. Furthermore, this is where the former Governor of Lagos State Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was said to have stepped in. Tinubu, who has over the years known for his shrewdness when it comes to grabbing opportunity was said to have invested heavily in the shares. This invariably put him in the role of Arisekola-Alao. Known for his love to be the unseen hand behind the scene as evident in his other businesses, he was said to have also enter into agreement with another person that will be the face of the deal while he will be running things from the underground.

His choice of who to represent him, this time around could not be ascertained as some believed he ceded the power back to Oba Otudeko, who has been running it well all these while. Others argued that he will be bringing another person in time to take over from Mr Otudeko. At first the rationale behind the taking-over was shrouded but sources revealed that the hand writing is clear, linking his involvement in the reason Mr Tokunboh Abiru, a known loyalist of Tinubu who was also the Commissioner of Finance under Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola, resigned his appointment to re-join the bank as an Executive Director of First Bank of Nigeria Plc and a Board member of FBN Holdings Plc.

The timing of return of Tokunboh Abiru who had worked with the bank previously as Group Head Corporate Banking and Business Development Manager and in other capacity before his appointment as commissioner in Lagos State and the position he is to occupy further raised eye-brows on the information that Tinubu may be having a role to play in the place of things. It is to note that the decision to appoint him a Board member of FBN Holdings Plc, which is the parent company of the First Bank Nigeria Limited, must have something to do with him representing the interest of an investor that has invested heavily in the group. This is because those on the board in non-executive capacity are mostly those with very huge shares in the company or those representing those with huge investment in the group shares.

This is a brief overview of the holdings to further shed more light on how it operates. FBN Holdings (Hold Co) is the non-operating holding company of the First Bank Group. The business groups within Hold Co offer a broad range of products and services. These includes including commercial banking, investment banking and asset management, insurance and other financial services to millions of customers, with the bulk of the business in Nigeria.

At the moments, sources said in the bid to protect his interest in the bank and maybe takeover the coveted position Onasanya currently occupies when his tenure expires, Otudeko has also placed his son, Obafemi Otudeko, who is the Group Executive Director of the Honeywell Group, one of Nigeria’s Leading conglomerates as one of the Board of Directors of First Bank Plc.

In a similar trend, Tinubu’s face in the bank, Adetokunbo is also said to be jostling for that enviable position as to protect the interest of his boss in the bank. Meanwhile, sources said Adetokunbo’s inclusion into the Board of Directors did not go down well with other Executive Directors of the bank who had been working while Abiru was playing politics, sources however revealed that the former commissioner was favoured by the board of the bank who were responsible for his decision to return to the fold of the bank after his time in the cabinet of Lagos State where he served as the Commissioner of Finance.

How this scheming and politics will play out we do not know for now, but those in the know are of the opinion that this is not a good omen for a bank that pride itself as a leading light, and if care is not taken it could lead to the collapse of the bank.

It would be recalled that Onasanya succeeded Sanusi Lamido, who is now the Emir of Kano after the latter tenure expired as the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.