It is no longer news that the Chairman of Enterprise Bank Ltd, Mr. Emeka Onwuka stepped down from the Board but information filtering alleged that he is set to buy the ailing bank from Asset Management Corporation Of Nigeria (AMCON).
It is said that Emeka Onwuka in a letter of resignation addressed to the Managing Director AMCON had referred to his earlier declaration of interest, intimated the management of his interest with a group of investors who intends to acquire AMCON’s shares in Enterprise bank ltd.
Reliable sources alleged that Emeka who was Group Managing Director/CEO of Diamond Bank Plc from May 2005 to February 2011 approached the board of Diamond bank to release fund to secure the purchase of the bank. It was gathered that Diamond bank doesn’t want to come out to bid for the purchase but prefer to use Emeka to penetrate the deal.
Insider of the bank who craved anonymity alleged that the resignation notice was less than normal period expected on an executive like Emeka.
Skye Bank Plc, on the other hand has indicated interest in acquiring Enterprise Bank Ltd., Timothy Oguntayo, the Group Managing Director of the bank, said in Lagos on Thursday.
Oguntayo made the development known at the bank’s pre-Annual General Meeting media briefing, adding that the bank had submitted a bid and scaled through various stages of due diligence.
“We are in the race for the acquisition of Enterprise Bank, we have scaled through the first hurdle stage and in the last due diligence stage,” Oguntayo said.
Those in know alleged that some of the ‘dirty things’ going on in Diamond Bank include bribing of top executives of both Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) and chartered Institute of Bankers (CIBN) who will facilitate the speedy acquisition by Diamond bank as other organizations are jostling for the same bank, Enterprise. It was gathered that a top executive of AMCON was given close to N200million to cede the bid in favour of Diamond bank.
An insider of Diamond bank alleged that the bank has given over N1billion to their connections in both Central Bank of Nigeria and Federal House of Representatives who are behind acquisitions of such transactions.
Finding revealed that the board of directors of Diamond bank has spent whooping amount of customer’s money to facilitate the purchase and this is affecting smooth operation in the bank. A customer who prefer anonymity divulged to us that she visited atleast two branches of Diamond bank within one week on different day to collect her money saved in the bank but met excuses that the network is down only for a her friend, a staff of Diamond bank to revealed that there is no cash on ground to pay anyone who wanted to collect huge amount of money.
To confirm the allegation, we visited two branches of Diamond bank in Lagos, a branch at Pedro B/stop in Gbagada and Abeaokuta expressway, Iyana Ipaja. The situation met confirmed what was reported as angry customers reacted to the inability of the bank to pay cash and mammoth crowd waiting to get there transactions done.
Though there were more than 20 bidders that have indicated interests in the purchase of Enterprise Bank, which not only underscored the attractiveness of the bank but vindicated the decision of the corporation to start with the bank, Diamond bank’s strategy to make the acquisition a reality is making the management to sack staffs to reduce overhead on staffs.
Additional report has it that, Jimoh Ibrahim who was one of the latest investors to bid has been shopping for a real investment in the banking industry to revitalize some of troubled companies which had nosedived.
Sources said that, Jimoh who is still a big player in the oil & gas business, newspaper publications, insurance, hospitality among others is still angry due to the way his investment in the aviation sector collapsed and has been making several moves to invest in a better industry.
Meanwhile, Femi Obateru is spearheading the interest of Obat Oil in the deal.
He is the Managing Director of Obat Petroleum and in charge of extensive operations of the family investment with a growing hold in the aviation sector. To succeed, interested parties need to pay all the debt of AMCON, including the 100% stake in Enterprise Bank and Femi is said to have put all machineries in place in achieving this project.
Findings revealed that Daimond bank has lay off over 500 staffs since inception of the idea to acquire Enterprise bank. According to investigations, Diamond bank is also involved in extortion scam, deducting money from customer’s account without approval.
It could be recalled that Onwuka has had a successful career in the banking industry. He has contributed immensely in the development of the banking industry in the last 20 years and Diamond bank in particular. It was his pedigree that earned him his appointment as the Chairman of Enterprise Bank Ltd, one of the nationalised banks. This singular appointment is in recognition of his sterling banking qualities and his ability to turn around and reposition the bank for greater heights.