By Bunmi Ajose

Like the proverbial merchant of Sicily, driven by lust for inordinate riches, Adebayo Adelabu, the Deputy Governor of CBN, nurtured no inhibitions in his pursuit of riches, unearned riches to be precise. This explains his willingness to play ball with former petroleum minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, in grand plot financial felonies.

Adebayo Adekola Adelabu following his interrogation and admission to administrative bail by anti-graft agency, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), for abuse of office and role in the alleged siphoning of shareholder funds via phoney loans at First Bank Plc, where he previously served as Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer.

Sources with knowledge of the development told us that investigators believe that Adelabu, who is presently serving as one of the Deputy Governors at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), allegedly connived with a former GMD and a top and popular businessman who is a former chairman of the bank to arbitrarily approve loans running into several billions of naira which have since gone bad.

The EFCC is particularly looking at billions of naira in bad loans approved for a popular businessman’s companies during his tenure as Chairman of the bank. The recklessness of the bank bosses prompted the CBN to introduce stiffer corporate governance rules to protect shareholder funds from being abused by insiders.
The die is indeed cast for Adelabu; further findings revealed that the embattled former First Bank Executive Director set himself up for disgrace by his excessive greed and lust for quick money. Sources within First Bank disclosed that he had always carried himself around like a Lord of other people’s manor.

In Adelabu’s case, many other accidental deep pockets have probably learnt few had lessons on the dos and don’ts of executive banking, morality and citizenship. This are certainly the worst of times for him. Adelabu, who is believed to have amassed a huge war chest, is preparing a bid for the governorship of Oyo State in 2019.

He was interrogated for hours on Monday at the Ikoyi, Lagos office of the EFCC and subsequently released on administrative bail. EFCC sources say he is expected to return to the agency for further questioning and may be charged to court for fraud and insider abuse when investigations are concluded. Shame! Effort made to reach him for his own side of the story proved abortive at the time of filling this report.

Culled from TheCapital