‘First sign of crack’ Why FBN Holdings axed coy’s secretary, Seye Kosoko

The internal crisis rocking FBN holdings, the parent company of First Bank took a new turn with the axing of Seye Kosoko, the company Secretary.

Recall that FBN Holdings Plc recently announced the redeployment of its company secretary, Seye Kosoko, while in reality he was allegedly kicked out from the job over some grave decisions he made in the past, siding with Oye Hassan-Odukale in the highest shareholding tussle with Femi Otedola saga.

For instance, Seye Kosoko first denied knowledge of Otedola’s acquisition of a majority equity share in First Bank Holdings, the parent company of First Bank of Nigeria, claiming that the bank had not received any such notification of a large ownership by Otedola from the authorities, as is customary.

However, in a follow-up communication to the Nigerian Exchange Limited, Kosoko made a u-turn, confirming that the company had received notification from APT Securities and Funds Limited that “Mr. Otedola Olufemi Peter and his nominee, Calvados Global Services Limited have acquired a total of 1,818, 551,625 units of shares from the company’s issued share capital of 35,895,292791.”

Following that, Kosoko claimed in a contentious news release that Oye Hassan-Odukale of Leadway Assurance was the bank’s single largest shareholder, another false claim that prompted a request from the Nigerian Exchange for the bank to clarify the remark. Kosoko then proceeded to sign the response to the enquiry, describing how they arrived at the bank’s shareholdings.

All of this embarrassment humiliated the bank’s stakeholders, and his days were from then, numbered.

His humiliating removal and redeployment to a less glamorous job bears an uncanny resemblance to his dismissal from Econet Wireless (now Airtel) in 2001, where he served as the company’s first Chief Legal Officer/Company Secretary.

Since Otedola emerging highest singular shareholder in First Bank means he holds the highest voting shares and can dictate the direction of the bank through his voting power. Insiders claimed Kosoko’s ouster, which comes after that of the immediate past chairman, Remi Babalola, has a Machiavellian tone to it and could be a hint of the bank’s full shift under Otedola, since he became the bank’s largest shareholder.

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