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The tables have turned, and diesel king, Femi Otedola, is baying for the blood of the banks that nearly drowned him some weeks back.

After paying ₦2.9 billion, being the amount of money owed Access Bank Plc, which took his company, African Petroleum (AP), to court asking that it be wound up, Mr. Otedola is now the creditor asking that three banks - Access, Intercontinental and Diamond, all publicly quoted companies - pay him the debts they owe.

Again, the lack of regulatory oversight in Nigeria's banking and capital market sectors is the issue in the latest act of the Otedola-Access saga. Mr. Otedola's claim is also coming on the heels of the election of his business foe, Aliko Dangote, as president of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, a development which promises a continuation in the battle between the erstwhile friends.

In a letter signed by Tunde Falasinnu and O.T. Segun-Idahor on behalf of AP, the compnay is demanding over N4.8 billion from Access Bank, "being your underwriter commitment for our last hybrid offer". The letter was published in newspapers, Thursday, Aug. 6 and was addressed to Access Bank's chief executive, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede.

"This payment is made without prejudice to all outstanding issues such as the underwriter commitment claim," the advert added.

The payment by AP came after the dismissal by a Federal High Court, last Tuesday, of the winding up application filed by Access Bank against AP, over alleged default in the payment of $35 million loan facility used to import refined petroleum products.

Arbitration as excuse

But Access Bank refused to confirm or deny that it owes AP the amount the company is demanding.

"The matter is before arbitration, we're not commenting at all," said Austin Edoja-Peters, the bank's Head of Corporate Communications.

The same comment was echoed by the spokesman of Intercontinental Bank. "We're not owing AP any underwriting money; the dispute is in arbitration," said Emeka Anaeto.

"The matter is subjudice and we won't do anything until the case is vacated," said Malachy Agbo, spokesman for Diamond Bank.

But a letter written by Intercontinental Bank to the Managing Director of Union Capital Markets Limited on November 25, 2008 shows that the bank is being economical with the truth: the letter was written after a meeting held the same day, where the underwriters of the 2008 AP hybrid offer were asked to propose a way out of the underwriting imbroglio after the offer.

The letter, signed by Adelana Ogunjirin and Olusegun Adams, both of Intercontinental Bank's Corporate Finance Group and titled ‘RE: AFRICAN PETROLEUM PLC: OFFER FOR SUBSCRIPTION OF 199,070,721 SHARES OF 50 KOBO EACH AT₦250 PER SHARE AND RIGHTS ISSUE OF 262,929,279 ORDINARY SHARES OF 50 KOBO EACH AT ₦230 PER SHARE' admits that there were some grey areas arising from the underwriting aspect of the offer.

It reads in part, "The 2% is adequate for commitment fee while there is the need to work out an arrangement that would mitigate the cost of holding the shares in the new arrangement as this could be the greatest challenge in managing the crystallized portion."

The letter concludes that the Intercontinental option "will enable the issuer and the underwriters creatively work out the crystallisation option without adversely hurting the books of the underwriters and possibly affecting future transactions with the issuer."

"Others have paid"

AP is unrelenting with its claim. "Union Capital has paid, Zenith has paid full commitment, Guaranty Bank has paid, UBA has paid, FCMB has paid, Bank PHB has partly paid; the only ones left are Access Bank, Diamond Bank and Intercontinental among the underwriters," said Mr. Falasinnu.

He added that "Bank PHB paid part of the money as a show of commitment to their customer that they want to continue doing business with us. So you will now see that it is just Access Bank, Intercontinental Bank and Diamond that are yet to pay."