For a long time, not many people knew that Femi Otedola was one of the progenitors of the United Bank for Africa, UBA, Africa’s Global Bank.
The Commercial Bank has been synonymous with one person, Tony Elumelu, the stylish Chairman of the bank.
But with the revelations coming out in the ongoing boardroom war between Otedola and Elumelu it is no longer a secet that the former once had a substantial interest in one of the major financial institutions in the country.
According to billionaire Otedola, he gave a whopping $20 million to Elumelu as a seed in investment in the Commercial Bank 18 years ago.
Recall that the former diesel mogul had recently tried to acquire a major stake in Transcorp, a company in which Elumelu is the Chairman and major shareholder, but was rebuffed.
Following the Transcorp saga, Otedola, who many suggested was planning to take over the company from Elumelu has come out with his own side of the story, describing his relationship with the banker as one that has been reeled with betrayal of sort.
Recall that Elumelu had recently described Otedola as ” a friend” while responding to the latter’s botched effort to acquire a substantial share in Transcorp.
But in his first direct response to what some have righly described as the battle for the soul of Transcorp, Otedola said his relationship with Elumelu started in 2015 when the latter approached him to invest in his bank.
He invested $20 million in the Commercial Bank based on Elumelu’s request, he explained.
Since then, according to Otedola, their relationship has not remained the same. He alleged that Elumelu has done everything on his part to attack his interests.
The businessman, in a statement on Tuesday expalined how his relationship with Elumelu turned to a topsy-turvy one after he provided the fund to acquire UBA.
Otedola said: “In 2005, while Tony was the Managing Director of Standard Trust Bank he approached me to get funds to acquire UBA. I enthusiastically gave him $20million, which was N2 billion at that time to buy the necessary shares in UBA for the acquisition.
“After a short period of time the share price moved up and I decided it was a good moment to sell and get out of the bank. However, Tony appealed to me to hold on to the shares as he was convinced that there were future prospects – so I kept the shares.
“I became Chairman of Transcorp Hotel in 2007 with a shareholding of 5% and unknowingly Tony gradually started buying shares quietly.
“By the following year in 2008 I went bankrupt in Nigeria. Tony proceeded to take my shares in UBA to service the interest on my loans and he also took over my shares in Africa Finance Corporation, where I was the largest shareholder.”
Those watching what is going on said Nigerians have not seen the end to the ongoing battle between the two businessmen in their quest to dominate the nation’s business sector. It is the beginning of could be an epic “business war.”
