In all of the stuff that people are sharing, they have chosen to forget some truths.
I agree that I may somehow be biased having worked for Mr. Alabi for some years and being a co-director with him in some of the companies I formed. But my bias is only to the extent that I know him and not anything. Other than the years I worked for him, I never took a contract or job from him when he was MD of Kakawa Dsicount House, ED at Union Bank, etc. I have the opportunity to but I never did and he can confirm this himself. He is not a saint but is he driven by what drives most Nigerian elites? No. Money or wealth never drives Lai Alabi and the acquisitive tendencies are never his fort. What he enjoys most is amala from the bukas of Lagos.
First I am not an employee of any bank and so the internals of each bank is unknown to me
Question one – how many banks became Intercontinental? Or which Akingbola bought and later merged? We can start naming – Gateway Bank, Equity, Hillcrest merchant bank and another bank who name I cannot remember.
Question 2 – How did Akingbola take over some of these banks. I know the story of how Hillcrest was taken over inside out and it is more like Julius Ceasers/Mark Anthony story. Reverend Fapounda was a benefactor of Akingbola but he lost his bank to him in questionable circumstances. At a point Akingbola owned 5 different banks in Nigeria. It is not hardwork, it is prebendal acquision.
Question 3 – No one has mentioned that Akingbola ran from Nigeria immediately the CBN took over Intercontinental. It fell to the lot of my friends in the bank (I don’t want to mention names) to do the needful when Akingbola ran. Before the takeover, I had 200,000 shares in the bank and they became worthless.
Akingbola may have founded the bank but at the takeover time the shenanigans in the bank was exactly as painted. Most of the shares were owned by cronies and staff who were given loans in the bank to buy the shares of the bank and trade in the bank’s shares to drive up the price artificially. My friends at the top tier at the bank were Sheriff Yusuff (ED), Iyiola Adegboye, Yemi Adenira and Femi Babalola who was the General Manager, West.
Is Alabi a saint? Absolutely, no. If I was in his shoes I wouldn’t agree to help manage Intercontinental. Him and Akingbola were “friends” and colleagues from the old NAL Merchant Bank. So if my friends bank was taken over I wouldn’t touch it with a hundred meter pole. Even if he rescued the bank, I still wouldn’t take the job. I do not know the inside story of any loans and debt forgiveness but Akingbola is not the saint they are casting him as today. There is the story of how he eventually forced Engineer Joseph to commit suicide because of the loans he took from Intercontinental. He was as bad as all the bad people who wrecked Nigeria today. Plot 999 Danmole was built with depositors money and nearly caused the bank to collapse. They moved from where they were inside Lagos Island to VI.. I know this because I know the story of how the bank was rescued using the old boys association of NAL Merchant Bank and Chief Alani Adeosun whom they ran to when the bank was threatened at that time. This also included Atedo Peterside of IBTC and the old boys from NAL rallied round Akingbola. Alabi was part of the facilitator because he was in First Bank as DGM and Chief Adeosun was the CEO then. At that time, Chief Adeosun, Alabi and I (though I was more like their “go with me boy”) were planning to takeover/buy Union Bank. How did anyone think Union Bank would be bought by anyone at the time? Of course, through shenanigans and other kinky stuff.
The boys who bought Access – Aig and Herbert – are they saints? Hell, no. Is Elumelu a saint? How did Standard Trust Bank, the junior partner, become the leading owner in UBA and upstaged Hakeem Bello-Osagie and Hakeem began to decline in the public space only for Elumelu to become the starboy of UBA? How did Zenith become the humongous giant. How did Tunde Lemo run Wema and then became Governor of CBN. How do banks make money in those days? Who doesn’t know that most of their income are derived from round-tripping forex? When they go into the boardroom, they go their with daggers and when they are there they trade in blood. Only those who survive are the ones we see at the end of their battles.
Let’s stop this stuff of trying to launder anyone. They are all dirty and deserve what the game they played earned them.
