By Fola James
Mohammed Shaheed Khan would have resumed today as the Managing Director/ chief Executive officer of Jaiz Bank Plc, the flagship Islamic bank in Nigeria but the polarization among the directors in the bank has ensured that this did not happen.
Khan was contracted last month on a monthly salary of $175, 000 as replacement for current CEO Mallam Hassan Usman Garki.
The current managing director whose contracts expired last month has chose to stay put in office even after the board of the bank has filed with the Central bank of Nigeria, CBN his replacement with Khan who is a foreigner.
Jaiz Bank had on August 7 written to the CBN requesting for its approval to appoint Khan as its chief executive, following which the apex bank replied seven days later on August 14, that it had no objection to the appointment.
The bank had earlier offered the appointment to Khan on August 3 which he accepted after and agreed to resign from his previous appointment.
Unknown to the Chairman of the bank, Umaru Mutallab and shareholders, some directors and Garki had something different in their minds; they planned to retain Usman who has agreed to retire from the service of the bank by end of August and handover to a new managing director.
While some directors who have been instrumental to Khan’s contract were battling with illness from COVID 19, their other counterparts backing the outgoing MD decided to strike.
With the directors behind him, Usman, few days ago wrote a letter to Khan informing him that he can no longer resume as chief executive officer, that the Board of Jaiz has contracted him to continue in office.
The issue has now become a big problem for Dr Mutallab and Jaiz Board as Khan is now poised to sue for N2 billion damages for wrongful termination of appointment.
Khan has now written a letter through his counsel A. U. Mustapha, a senior advocate of Nigeria, SAN to intervene on the matter because he cannot afford to suffer double jeopardy after resigning from his previous appointment.
The letter read in part: “Khan, who has a Fintech background, strong network and profile, was approached by Jaiz Bank because the current Managing Director was retiring, and the Bank needed transformation (both cultural and digital) to compete with other digital focused Islamic banks and incumbent banks;
“After rigorous and exhaustive interviews, Khan was offered a letter of appointment as managing Director/CEO of Jaiz Bank on the 3rd of August 2020 and the same letter was duly accepted. Thereafter, a Contract of Employment was drawn between Jaiz Bank and Khan.
“On the 7th of August 2020, Jaiz Bank wrote to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) requesting for its approval to appoint Khan as its MD/CEO.
“The CBN replied by its letter dated 14th August requesting for further clarifications.
“On the 21st of August 2020, Jaiz Bank wrote another letter to CBN where it acknowledged CBN’s letter dated 14th august 2020, stating “we will strongly request your kind consideration and approval for the appointment of Muhammed Shaheed Khan as managing Director Designate”.
“In response to the passionate request, CBN, by its letter dated 17th September 2020 CBN formally confirmed that it “has no objection to the appointment of Mohammed Shaheed Khan as Managing Director/CEO for two years from the date of his appointment.
“Following his appointment as the MD/CEO of Jaiz Bank, Khan completed all formalities and resigned from his previous job and his resignation was duly accepted by the board of his former employers.
“He withdrew his children from their current school, donated/sold his furniture, secured a smaller accommodation for his close relations and thereafter, started working remotely for Jaiz Bank.
“On the 3rd and 11th of September, Khan attended to official electronic mail from the Company Secretary “Executive Directors would like to have your input on a proposal to secure some IT infrastructure, details of which will be shared with you shortly”;
“But the current outgoing Managing Director of Jaiz Bank, Mallam Hassan Usman, on the 25th of September 2020, after an emergency board meeting, informed Khan that Jaiz allegedly cannot proceed with the appointment.
“Khan replied by claiming that he had been in contact with the Chairman and Company Secretary as the Chairman had no knowledge of the alleged termination of his appointment and that as an outgoing Managing Director, he lacks the authority to send the correspondence.
“On 30th September 2020, Khan wrote the Chairman, Board of Directors of Jaiz Bank, Alhaji (Dr) Umaru Mutallab CON, FCA, and the Company Secretary that he has completed all the formalities and as per the offer letter and he will be joining Jaiz Bank on October 2nd 2020.
On the same 30th September 2020, Alhaji (Dr) Umaru Mutallab CON, FCA, Chairman; Board of Directors of Jaiz Bank replied back “We look forward to your resumption on the 2nd of October officially as MD designate while the visa formalities are being finalized. On behalf of the Board, we look forward to seeing you soonest in person in Nigeria.”
The letter, dated October 26, 2020, was also copied the President of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, CIBN and the Secretary of Jaiz Bank.
Meanwhile, a statement released by Jaiz Bank’s company’s Secretary, Mrs. Rukayat Dahiru, Jaiz Bank Plc said reports claiming board room crisis in the bank is untrue.
The bank “will like to set the records straight for the attention and benefit of all our Regulators, Bankers, Shareholders, Customers, Investors, Strategic Stakeholders, and the General Public for the record.
“The Bank will like to state that there is no rift in the Board of the Bank other than the legitimate exercise of divergent opinions on a matter in the ordinary course of the Directors duties,’’ statement said.
