Internal Crisis In First Bank, FBN Holdings, Secretary, Seye Kosoko Sacked

The internal crisis rocking FBN holdings, the parent company of First Bank took a new turn with the axing of Seye Kosoko the company Secretary.

Recall that ENigeria Newspaper had earlier reported that an internal crisis was ongoing in First Bank of Nigeria upon the return of its Managing Director, Adesola Adeduntan whose sack was orchestrated by what many tagged vindictive leadership of the bank headed by suspended Chairman, Ibukun Awosika and her cohort, Oba Otudeko.

In the report ENigeria Newspaper reiterated that the real cause of the problem began at board level and it snowballed into a major crisis that saw the intervention of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The Central Bank acknowledging that First Bank is a Systemically Important Bank (SIB) and its failure would trigger a wider financial crisis and threaten the economy, quickly disbanded the leadership of Ibukun Awosika and Oba Otudeko.

The removal of Awosika and Otudeko saw the reinstatement of Kazeem Adesola Adeduntan whose return further orchestrated another crisis due to an alleged flagrant display of vindictiveness by him on some senior employees of the bank who are finding it uneasy at the moment.

An exclusive and extensive investigation by ENigeria Newspaper revealed that, prior to the intervention of Godwin Emefiele’s Central Bank of Nigeria, which saw Adeduntan reinstated to his position, some top employees of First Bank had allegedly taken sides and declared allegiance with Awosika and Otudeko against the sitting MD/CEO.

Adeduntan apparently accepted to fate because he knew his days were numbered after falling out of favor with the powers that be, but he obviously didn’t forget.

According to some inside sources who opened up to ENigeria Newspaper, Adeduntan reportedly believes that amid the crisis, some top employees especially those in the Corporate Communications department allegedly planted some negative reports about him in the media and upon his reinstatement, this newspaper source revealed that he has allegedly made life a living hell for all of them in his bad book.

A similar scenario is what is now playing out in FBN holdings Plc, the parent holding company of First Bank of Nigeria, ENigeria Newspaper gathered.

FBN Holdings Plc recently announced the redeployment of its company secretary, Seye Kosoko, while in reality he was allegedly kicked out from the job over some grave decisions he made in the past, siding with Oye Hassan-Odukale in the highest shareholding tussle with Femi Otedola saga, ENigeria Newspaper understands.

For instance, Seye Kosoko first denied knowledge of Otedola’s acquisition of a majority equity share in First Bank Holdings, the parent company of First Bank of Nigeria, claiming that the bank had not received any such notification of a large ownership by Otedola from the authorities, as is customary.

However, in a follow-up communication to the Nigerian Exchange Limited, Kosoko made a U-turn, confirming that the company had received notification from APT Securities and Funds Limited that “Mr. Otedola Olufemi Peter and his nominee, Calvados Global Services Limited have acquired a total of 1,818, 551,625 units of shares from the company’s issued share capital of 35,895,292791.”

Following that, Kosoko claimed in a contentious news release that Oye Hassan-Odukale of Leadway Assurance was the bank’s single largest shareholder, another false claim that prompted a request from the Nigerian Exchange for the bank to clarify the remark. Kosoko then proceeded to sign the response to the enquiry, describing how they arrived at the bank’s shareholdings.

All of this embarrassment humiliated the bank’s stakeholders, and his days were from then, numbered.

His humiliating removal and redeployment to a less glamorous job bears an uncanny resemblance to his dismissal from Econet Wireless (now Airtel) in 2001, where he served as the company’s first Chief Legal Officer/Company Secretary.

Since Otedola emerging highest singular shareholder in First Bank means he holds the highest voting shares and can dictate the direction of the bank through his voting power, insiders say Kosoko’s ouster, which comes after that of the immediate past chairman, Remi Babalola, has a Machiavellian tone to it and could be a hint of the bank’s full shift under Otedola, since he became the bank’s largest shareholder.