CBN Tears Adenuga, Otedola Apart

By Fola James

Globacom owner, Mike Adenuga and oil magnate, Femi Otedola are not chummy friends but the corona virus pandemic has brought two of Nigeria’s billionaire together, after they both donated a billion naira each to the covid 19 Relief Fund set up by the federal government.

But the same issue had almost separated them, when the CBN, on Friday disclosed that some donors including Adenuga were yet to redeem their pledges.

Apart from the telecom billionaire, GSM giant MTN, Larfarge, among others had yet to redeem their donations, the apex bank said.

Responding to the issue, Otedola was reported to have called out Adenuga and others to pay their pledges to the fund.

It was later discovered that CBN was responsible for the mixup as the telecom tycoon has already sent his N1billion pledge to the federal government.

This was made known by Dele Momodu while responding to allegations by CBN that Adenuga and others had delayed sending their monetary donations.

In a post on his Instagram handle,  Momodu said the Globacom xhairman had not only redeemed his pledge to the FG but, has also donated a whopping N500 million to the Lagos state government as part of his contribution to combat the deadly virus.

The letter titled, ‘Confirmation of transfer to CBN account 1000014920 COVID-19 Relief Fund Account’, read in part, “As you are well aware, we made bank drafts for the total sum of N1, 000, 000, 000 (one billion naira only) on March 30, 2020 in favour of COVID-19 Relief Fund Account.

“We are pleased to confirm that we have wired the full value of the drafts N1, 000, 000, 000(one billion naira) to the beneficiary – CBN account 1000014920 COVID-19 Relief Fund Account as per your instruction in spite of the limited banking services occasioned by the pandemic.”00

“Africa’s most silent billionaire, Dr. Michael Adeniyi Agbolade Isola Adenuga has fully redeemed his pledge of N1bn to the CBN/Nigerian private sector coalition against COVID-19,” Momodu said.