There is a crop of Nigerians that live for conspiracies. They believe that every wealthy musician, especially one that is less than 40 years old, is a drug pusher, and every successful corporate Amazon slept her way up the leadership ladder.
These are the same Nigerians that happily threw Zenith Bank founder Jim Ovia under the boss not long ago after he was linked with Titan Trust Bank. Well, it looks like these conspiracy theorists have it somewhat right for the first time.
Ovia’s place in Zenith Bank is unquestionable. The man found the institution far back in 1990. Today, Zenith is one of the apex banks in Nigeria, definitely one of the first 5—true to its name. However, the founder, Ovia, has not had such a fortune to be celebrated nationwide. Instead, there is usually one controversy or another around him.
The most recent controversy is the one in which Ovia was alleged to be the brains and financial biceps behind Titan Trust Bank, the little bank that swallowed up a giant like Union Bank. Convinced that such a David-beats-Goliath move cannot be replicated in Nigeria’s banking system, people were convinced that someone with real power was behind the entire thing. And Ovia was fingered.
This has brought to mind the curious case of Ovia with journalist and publisher Andy Briggs. To summarize their deal, Briggs wrote a biography titled ‘The Godfather of Banking’ in which he detailed Ovia’s rise to power in the banking industry. But Ovia tried everything he could to stop the book from being published. According to his lawyers, the book contained information that could damage his reputation.
Perhaps it was that event that inspires the average Nigerian conspiracy theorist to look towards Ovia whenever there is malfeasance in the banking sector. So, who can blame Ovia if he has sworn never to forgive Briggs considering that the book is still around today?