4 Bank MDs To Be Sacked After The Sallah Break

Yesterday, senior security officers confirmed to THISDAY that only four of the 14 bank chief executives, whose institutions were recently audited by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) were affected by the seizure of travel documents by the State Security Services (SSS).

The other 10 CEOs are under close surveillance.

The CEOs whose international passports were seized include Francis Atuche of BankPHB, Ike Oreakwotu of Equitorial Trust Bank and Charles Ojo of Springbank.

The clarification came amidst growing anxiety and speculations that the SSS might have seized the international passports of the 14 chief executives whose banks are included in the second and third phases of the CBN special examination.
 
A security source told THISDAY that the surveillance covers chief executives of 11 banks already audited and the three others still being investigated by the audit teams.

The 11 banks whose recent audits have been completed by the CBN are Skye, Bank PHB, Ecobank Nigeria Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, First City Monument Bank Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc, Spring Bank Plc, Access Bank Plc, Wema Bank Plc, Unity Bank Plc and ETB. The various teams deplored to the banks were said to be “ making significant progress” on the probe of the other three banks, Stanbic IBTC, Citibank and Standard Chartered as at the weekend.
However, while reacting to the development, some bank MDs, particularly those who are not among the four whose passports had been seized by the security agency, yesterday made frantic efforts to prove to journalists that their international travelling documents were in their possession.
They include Jim Ovia of Zenith Bank Aigboje Aig-Imokhuede of Access Bank and Skye Bank’s Akinsola Akinfemiwa.

Ovia and  Aig-Imokhuede yesterday invited journalists to their respective offices where they displayed their international passports to prove that the travelling documents were not seized by security agents.

The CEOs might have been compelled to go this extra length after being inundated with enquiries from customers who wanted to know the true state of affairs concerning their banks. Also, Head of Corporate Affairs, Skye Bank, Mr. Kayode Akinyemi, told THISDAY on phone last night that his boss was not affected by the SSS  intervention