One of Nigeria’s biggest banks, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, is facing perilous times as law enforcement agents sniff around the bank’s recent activities on suspicion that it might be part of a grand conspiracy to defraud the state of 153 million dollars.
Checks by Lagos Times revealed that top executives of the first generation bank are feeling jittery like a woman expecting her first delivery. They are on tenterhooks, hoping that they are not implicated in the spate of scandals and money laundering charges brought against former petroleum minister Diezani Alison-Madueke since her ouster from the government in 2015.
Those in the know disclosed to this outfit that the bank is very sensitive to any link, no matter how trivial or tenuous, between it and a recent court case which has seen the managing director of a top bank dragged to court on charges of colluding with Diezani to siphon $153 million from the coffers of the NNPC.
Asides the top head honcho of the popular bank who is now in hot soup, another person currently facing legal headaches over his part in the money laundering scandal is Dauda Lawal who, until recently, served in the prestigious post of Executive Director, Public Sector North, of First Bank.
It came as a rude shock to many watchers when the Zamfara-born Lawal was unceremoniously given his marching orders from his plum job by the First Bank top decision makers. Unknown to many, the abrupt decision might not be unconnected with the bank’s avowed determination to steer well clear of any controversies that could taint its noble name. Hence the move to relieve Lawal of his duties and let him sink or swim alone in the treacherous legal waters.
While Lawal currently cools his heels in jail, his friends and former associates in the First Bank boardroom are playing deaf, dumb and mute to his plight. The man who contested for the APC governorship ticket in Zamfara is a shadow of his former self as his reputation lies in tatters. He has been remanded in custody till December 17 to face the next round of trial.