Opinion

Opinion: The Virtue of Integrity and the First Bank Saga

Published

4 years ago

May 7, 2021.

It was a rude shock when I read in the news that the CBN dissolved the board of directors of First Bank and its holding company over the sack of the MD, Dr. Olusola Adeduntan, whose tenure was yet to be over. As I read the news, one name and face came to mind: Mrs. Ibukun Awosika.

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As I read the details surrounding the sack of the MD, his reinstatement by the CBN and the statement by the Apex bank over the dissolution of the board, lots of questions raced through my mind: why would something like this happen under her watch? Could the judgment of the board, whom she’s been the chairman for over four years, be one-sided? Did the board consult with the apex bank? While the board stood their ground justifying the sack of the MD, the CBN countered, not only reinstating him but dissolving them. A newsprints quotes the CBN as stating that, “The CBN notes with concern that the action was taken without due consultation with the regulatory authorities, especially given the systemic importance of First Bank Ltd.”

Ibukun Awosika is one who is made out from a unique stock for amongst all the chairmen of banks and conglomerates, she is different, unique and her integrity, wrapped around deep principles ooze out each time she speaks. She lives no doubt as to the quality of who she is and the board’s decision to stand their ground even when directed by the CBN to reverse the decision on the sack shows their belief that the decision of sack was best for the age-old institution. Under her watch, the board showed that they had absolute trust in their decision and upheld it to the end.

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Since her sack and that of the board, there hasn’t been any mudslinging or bad press from them, not that one expects anything less but something worthy of note in a clime where terminations of highly placed appointments don’t go down without mudslinging and aspersions.

Taking to her instagram account a few days after the reinstatement of the MD and the sack of the board, she wrote: ‘My FBN Group Journey’, “…Without a shadow of doubt, I will unequivocally state that I have always acted in honor and integrity with the utmost interest of the institution, all our stakeholders and the Nation.”

There are always two sides (or several) to a story and we have read from the apex bank and the directors who were sacked, however one thing stands sure: the integrity of the sack chairman, and by extension, its board, stands unstained.

Photo Credit: istockphotos

OLUWABUSAYO MADARIOLA

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