Who’s in the power circles of Nigerian banking czar Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede?

Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, a lawyer-turned-banker, chairs Access Holdings – Nigeria’s largest lender by assets – and the financial services group Coronation.

He oversees a significant portfolio of investments and businesses in banking, finance, insurance, technology, real estate and energy.

Between 2002 and 2013, he was the managing director and CEO of Access Bank, which he and his late friend Herbert Wigwe acquired 24 years ago and transformed into a top-tier lender with a presence in several continents and over 20 countries.

After his retirement in 2013, he and Wigwe founded the Tengen Family Office Limited, which manages their wealth. In 2015, he established Coronation Capital Limited, a private equity and proprietary investment firm and in 2024, he returned to Access Bank to lead the board.

In 2020, he set up Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation, which is “committed to promoting an Africa in which all citizens are empowered to pursue their goals and aspirations, contribute to the economic development of their communities, and live healthy and productive lives”.

President Bola Tinubu hailed the Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation in July 2023 for instituting a N41m ($26,700) endowment fund to reward deserving civil servants annually.

He was appointed in May 2025 as the president of the France-Nigeria Business Council by the French President Emmanuel Macron.

Here are some of the key people in Aig-Imoukhuede’s inner circle.

Family ties

1. Ofovwe Aig-Imoukhuede

Ofovwe, his wife and a development specialist, is the executive vice-chair of the Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation. A lawyer and banker who started her career at Nigeria International Bank (now Citibank) in 1993, Ofovwe has over 30 years’ experience working in the financial and not-for-profit sectors.

Through the foundation and its subsidiaries, the Africa Initiative for Governance and the Aig-Imoukhuede Institute, the power couple manage a significant family commitment focused on building Nigeria’s next generation of government leaders. They also work on helping transform public sector effectiveness and improving access to quality primary health care.

2. Aigbovbioise Aig-Imoukhuede

Aigbovbioise Aig-Imoukhuede, the younger brother, is the managing director of Coronation Asset Management, a subsidiary of Coronation.

He took the helm of the company in 2019 following the divestment of Coronation Merchant Bank from the asset management subsidiary. He was previously the head of Coronation Capital Markets Division at the merchant bank and deputy managing director at Coronation Securities, which he joined in 2007 as vice president of the Wealth Management Group.

He also sits as a non-executive director on the boards of four other subsidiaries – Coronation Securities, Coronation Capital, Coronation Trustees, and Trium, a venture capital firm. He is a member of the board of trustees at Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation.

Aigbovbioise, who is president of the Fund Managers Association of Nigeria, started his career at Fidelity Bank in 1997, and later worked at MBC International Bank, First Bank and Marina Securities.

3. Imohimi Aig-Imoukhuede

Another younger brother, Imohimi is a non-executive director at Coronation Life Assurance.

The CEO of Fiducia, a digital supply chain financing platform, has worked in several financial institutions, including Agusto & Co, Citibank Nigeria, the United Bank of Africa and Stanbic IBTC Bank.

4&5. Kemi and Bolaji Balogun

Kemi, who is Aig-Imoukhuede’s younger sister, is married to Bolaji Balogun, whose investment banking firm Chapel Hill Denham has served as financial adviser to Access Bank for years.

In 2006, a three-year local currency bond issued by Access Bank and listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange was handled by Chapel Hill Partners.

“Over time, Chapel Hill, led by Bolaji Balogun, proved to be an excellent solution provider for us in the many complex capital market transactions we undertook,” Aig-Imoukhuede said in his book, Leaving the Tarmac: Buying a Bank in Africa.

6. Uche Wigwe

Uche, a cousin of Aig-Imoukhuede’s late friend and partner Wigwe, sits on the boards of two subsidiaries of Coronation: Coronation Capital and Trium.

Aig-Imoukhuede and Wigwe were friends and professional colleagues for 10 years at Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) before they bought Access Bank. Uche was very close to Wigwe, who died last year in a helicopter crash in the United States.

He is the managing partner at Wigwe & Partners, a commercial law firm based in Lagos.

Business and political leaders

7. Olusegun Obasanjo

Aig-Imoukhuede is known to be close to Obasanjo, who was president of Nigeria between 1999 and 2007. He is the chairman of the leadership council of the Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation.

In his book, Aig-Imoukhuede explains that while he was overseeing GTB’s business in Abuja, he sometimes followed his managing director Fola Adeola to interactive sessions Obasanjo had with private sector leaders. “During sessions with the president, I kept hearing phrases like ‘reform agenda’ and ‘private sector-led growth’,” he says.

Obasanjo, in his foreword to the book, describes Aig-Imoukhuede as an “active participant during the interactions” who “clearly understood my vision for Nigeria’s economic development”.

Access Bank’s “commitment to sustainable business practices has seen the bank take the lead on issues of economic development, health, women empowerment, corporate governance and so on”, Obasanjo says. “For this reason, whenever they seek my support in their quest to become the world’s most respected African bank, it is forthcoming.”

8. Jim Ovia 

Ovia, the founder and chairman of Zenith Bank, has provided mentorship to Aig-Imoukhuede over the years.

In 2018, at Ovia’s book launch, Aig-Imoukhuede revealed how after the acquisition of Access Bank in 2002, the then CEO of Zenith Bank called him to go to his office.

“I went to his office and for the next three hours, Jim Ovia proceeded to share with me the secrets of his success, the secrets of his life and the secrets of Zenith. And to be honest, that day, as he showed me things after things from technology to people to succession planning and everything, I said, ‘Aigboje, you’ve got to revise your plans for Access Bank’,” he said.

“A few years down the road, at a very pivotal time in my life when the journey through life could have been left as you know it today or right – the much more negative outcome, Jim Ovia again called me and did the most unexpected, most unanticipated thing and gave me a lifetime break.”

9. Aliko Dangote

Dangote, Africa’s richest man, is a close ally of Aig-Imoukhuede. He was one of the first key chief executives who opened their doors to Access Bank when Aig-Imoukhuede and Wigwe were marketing their capabilities after the acquisition of the ailing bank.

“We are particularly grateful to Alhaji Aliko Dangote, founder of the renowned Dangote Group of Companies, who gave us the chance to become one of their bankers at a time when Access Bank’s foreign currency balance sheet was less than the size of his credit card limit,” Aig-Imoukhuede says in his book.

Early successes like “our breakthrough with the Dangote Group” served to motivate them to overcome the resistance of those who were proving more difficult to convince, he adds.

In 2012, Aig-Imoukhuede, Dangote and Ovia founded the Private Sector Health Alliance of Nigeria.

10. Babajide Sanwo-Olu

Aig-Imoukhuede is known to be close to Sanwo-Olu, who has been the governor of the country’s commercial capital of Lagos State since 2019. When he was sworn in on 29 May 2019, Aig-Imoukhuede led an Access Bank delegation to visit the new governor.

In November 2023, Sanwo-Olu and Aig-Imoukhuede, chair of EnterpriseNGR, participated in the United Kingdom’s Lord Mayor Show. The governor said the newly inaugurated Lagos International Financial Centre, co-chaired by him and Aig-Imoukhuede, played a pivotal role in showcasing the investment potential of Lagos on a global platform.

11. French President Emmanuel Macron

In 2021, Macron inaugurated the France-Nigeria Business Council, a private sector initiative aimed at enhancing business relations between the two countries. Access Bank opened a branch in Paris, France in May 2023.

Last year, he appointed Aig-Imoukhuede as the president of the council, whose members include Dangote, Ovia, Mike Adenuga, Gilbert Chagoury, John Coumantaros, Daisy Danjuma, Tony Elumeluand Abdul Samad Rabiu.

Inner team

12. Roosevelt Ogbonna

After Aig-Imoukhuede and Wigwe acquired Access Bank in 2002, Ogbonna was among their colleagues from GTB who joined them. Between 2002 and 2004, he was the team lead for local corporate at the corporate banking group.

In May 2022, he became the managing director and chief executive officer of Access Bank. He also sits on the boards of Access Holdings, Access Bank’s subsidiaries in the United Kingdom and South Africa as a non-executive director as well as those of invested companies African Finance Corporation and Central Securities Clearing System Plc.

Prior to taking the helm of the bank, he served as the deputy managing director for five years. He also previously held several positions including executive director in charge of commercial banking; and group head and super regional head, commercial banking.

13. Bolaji Agbede

Agbede was appointed as acting group managing director of Access Holdings following the demise of Wigwe last year.

She joined Access Bank as an assistant general manager in 2003, a year after its acquisition. She started her career in GTB in 1992 and rose to manager in 2001.

She served as Access Bank’s head of group human resources between 2010 and 2022 and was appointed the founding executive director in charge of business support in 2022.

14. Jamie Simmonds

Simmonds is the CEO and managing director of Access Bank UK, which was established more than 17 years ago.

Before his appointment in January 2008, he had previously held several director roles at National Westminster, Coutts, Royal Bank of Scotland, Gerrards and Close Brothers.

15. Amaechi Okobi

Amaechi Okobi is the chief brand and communications officer for Access Corporation, overseeing the positioning of the brand, including all banking and non-banking subsidiaries, across various markets.

He previously served as the group head of corporate communications for Access Bank, a position he held since joining the organisation in 2014.

Amaechi is a marketing and communications professional with over 25 years of experience with global and Nigerian retail brands such as Revlon Inc., Nigerian Breweries, Globacom and Diageo.

16. Olumide Olatunji

Olatunji has been the managing director of Access Bank Ghana, the biggest subsidiary in West Africa outside Nigeria, since September 2018. He previously held the position of group head, commercial banking division in Access Bank.

He has served as a non-executive director of Access Bank Rwanda and Access Bank in Democratic Republic of Congo.

(The Africa Report)