…I regret ever meeting Adaobi Alagwu
Former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Skye Bank Plc, Tunde Ayeni, has stated that he regrets ever meeting Adaobi Alagwu, who claimed to have had a child with him. Speaking in an interview with journalists, Ayeni, who also discussed how and why Skye Bank’s licence was withdrawn, said Alagwu is now history, as that chapter has been erased from his life trajectory. Excerpts:
Let’s start from the basics. How was your growing up like?
Growing up, I schooled partly in Kaduna. As a toddler, I began my primary education at the Army Children’s School in Kaduna. I then completed my primary education in Yola at the Army Children’s School, as my parents, being public servants, were always on the move. They were transferred to another state, which determined where I had to be. I subsequently returned to my village to attend Baptist Secondary School, IyahGbede, a seminary secondary school in Ijumu LGA, Kogi State. From there, I did my HSC in Ilorin at Kwara State College of Technology. It’s now called Kwara State Polytechnic. After that, I had the privilege of studying law at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and subsequently attended the Nigerian Law School in Lagos. I later attended the University of Lagos for my LLM programme, which pretty much sums up my educational background. All of which are aside from the numerous management courses abroad.
Your personality is synonymous with the banking industry. How did you transition from law to banking?
Let me correct an impression. I am a lawyer, and I’ll always be one. It’s a profession that I am always very proud of. It’s also good to mention that being a lawyer does not necessarily mean going to court. You can be a lawyer without going to court. The two aspects of legal practice are combined in Nigeria. By this, I mean that you can effectively practice as a solicitor and an advocate, but in a place like England, for instance, you can either be a barrister or a solicitor. You can’t combine the two. I still run my law office actively to date, both in Lagos and in Abuja. However, at a very early stage in my career, I ventured into business. After my youth service, I worked with a company that afforded me the opportunity to have a flair for business.
The company was in the business of marketing products and also manufacturing goods. In those days, things were relatively easier than they are today. This gave me the background to venture into business. When I left to set up businesses of my own, my then-CEO, who had trained me in the art of making deals, Mr. Rodney Hecksher, who is of partly Nigerian and Irish origin, was such a dedicated and devoted employer of labour. So, I was exposed to business at a very early stage of my work life. I was the company’s legal adviser and his personal assistant for about two years, and in that position, I could see everything that my peers were not able to see.
After I voluntarily resigned from my employment, I went ahead to set up my law firm, from which my other businesses came. Also, at a very early stage in my career, I realised that what most business people need is the funding capability to succeed in business. You can have different business ideas, but what is most important is the privilege of having the capacity to fund them to succeed. So, I made the decision to seek partners, and we set up a banking institution at a very early stage to support my business ideas so that I wouldn’t always have to speak too much grammar to secure funding.
Was that how Skye Bank came about?
There was Bond Bank before Skye Bank. I ventured into the banking business at the time, not as an employee, but as a part-owner. In those days, the value of the naira was reasonably good, so the requirement for capitalisation of a banking institution was initially set at N500 million and later N2 Billion when our license was granted. This system continued to change as productivity, and the value of our naira continued to decline, even though the economy continued to expand. I was, therefore, on the board of directors of Bond Bank Nigeria Ltd as a non-executive member. I’ve never worked in a bank as an employee. By this, I mean doing day-to-day work. I was on the board of the bank until 2005 when we merged with the group that eventually became Skye Bank Plc following regulatory intervention by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
At the beginning of Skye Bank’s operation, I opted out of the board. At that time, I had a representation on the board, but later on, when I felt I needed to watch over my investment, I rejoined the board. I came on the board sometime in 2008, and I can confidently say that we did very well for the institution at the time. In that, we grew the balance sheet very well and brought in good businesses. The bank grew profitably well because everybody, including staff, board members and other stakeholders, was very committed. Sometime in 2011, I was elected as the chairman of the bank.
Looking back on those moments, I can authoritatively say there is politics in every aspect of human endeavour. One thing I used to say, and which I still maintain, is no matter how smart you might be, you can only see what is in front of you and hardly see what lies behind you. For instance, 90 per cent of the time, when a bank fails, the non-executive directors may not actually be aware of 99 per cent of the reasons that may have led to the failure. It always falls on the laps of the executive directors because, as a non-executive director, you can only know what the executives want you to know and see.
However, no matter how much time you devote to watching—because you don’t earn income from the institution other than the so-called sitting allowance—you have your own primary responsibility of watching over your other business ventures that pay your bills; things tend to go wrong when it is least expected. Because our level of corporate governance in most institutions is still poor in this environment, there are a lot of corporate deceits that lead to corporate failures.
In my career, I have seen a situation where credit has been designed from the very beginning to fail, and you will not know because they will lie to you about what the actual purpose of the credit is all about. I have seen a credit that was designed for real estate investment but made to look like it is a credit for an oil and gas business. When this is presented to you, and you sign off as a non-executive, that is the extent to which you may be aware. From that moment, the rest lies with the executives, as they are the ones who disburse the loans and manage the customers. So, it is the information they provide you that you will work with as a non-executive director.
So, are you saying politics led to the collapse of Skye Bank?
Well, to a large extent, maybe or maybe not. The point is that, as an experienced journalist, you would agree with me that if you hold a public office for one month, no matter how prudent or clean you might seem to appear, if the powers that be want to find something against you, they will surely do. The same thing applies to banking. If the regulators want to find you culpable for certain reasons, I can assure you that it will be very difficult for you to escape it. But there are some facts that are very difficult and unwise for me to share with you at this moment. I’m sure when I’m a bit older or retired from business, it’ll be much easier for me to do so.
But specifically on the story of the withdrawal of the licence of Skye Bank, I believe either someone else or myself will tell the real story one day. All I can say for now is simply the bank’s failure was not because we didn’t run the bank well or maybe we did not know what to do at the time. Neither was it that the bank was not doing well. It failed because the licence just had to be withdrawn, and it was withdrawn.
Away from banking and its politics, tell us about the back and forth between you and your so-called ex-mistress, AdaobiAlagwu.
When people refer to her as my ex-mistress, I hate to even hear it because it’s one of the darkest moments of my life. I regret ever meeting that lady. Initially, I was trying to manage the entire episode to protect my family, reputation and legacy. But it quickly became obvious to me that I was dealing with somebody who would go to any length to take advantage and blackmail me with the support of her family. For someone like me, who often avoids social media drama because of the reputational fallout it raises for business both locally and internationally, I did not want anything that could negatively affect my image when checks are being cleared out.
Unfortunately, characters like this lady know this, and they take advantage of that, believing that people like me cannot come out like them on social media platforms. However, sometimes, it gets to a point where, as a man, you just have to come out and fight your battle, and that’s exactly what I had to do, and it’s what I’m still doing. Like I said earlier, it’s a regrettable episode for me, and I never wish such for even my enemy.
What do you mean? It never happened, or how?
She and her mother are desperate. I regret ever having anything to do with her and her entire family. I don’t even want to remember that period of my life. It is completely blocked out of my memory. Most people don’t understand what actually happened. I can tell you for a fact that I’m not an irresponsible person. With hindsight, when all this started, and I saw all the red flags, I should have just walked away. People should take it as a lesson from me. Once you discover that you are in a circle you shouldn’t be, just cut the line and just move on. Let the heavens fall if it has to fall. But I was trying to manage the situation, and I was doing things that ordinarily I shouldn’t have done, like providing maintenance, even helping with accommodation, and so on. Those things that I did out of the goodness of my heart were used to blackmail me, and that was why, at a point, I came out openly to say I did this, it’s all over, and I’m recovering everything that I can recover from her and her mother.
As we speak, the Magistrate Court in Dawaki, Abuja, on March 11, 2025, ruled to the effect that there was no marital affair between the lady and myself and that I am not responsible for her child. In any case, I was never the father. The child is not mine. It is, therefore, clear that the episode has ended. Now I’m back in court with her to recover my two houses from her and her mother, which they’re still occupying. It’s clear that people like them just like to reap where they did not sow. But this time, it will not work. They’ve been served the legal notice to immediately vacate my properties.
What lessons have you learnt so far?
A very big lesson, and for the sake of my name, my children, my wife, and my legacy, I have learnt so much during this period that it is only good for people to watch very carefully before they make friends because I have also identified roles some of my friends had played during this period. Secondly, just stay focused, and there is no need for men to have a relationship that has no meaning and has no value in it. These sorts of relationships come with short moments of pleasure but with huge, devastating consequences. As a responsible man, you don’t need it. It was a distraction for me—especially when the person involved is one who can misbehave without thinking of the dire consequences of their actions. That is exactly what Adaobi did. From the bottom of my heart, I must thank my family very well because they stood by me, especially my wife and my children. At a point, I had to come clean to them; they understood, and to date, they still stand with me. Even though my actions were not permissible, they understood, and together, we’ve been able to weather the storm.
Do you regret anything in all of these?
My singular regret in all of this is the fact that I ever came across AdaobiAlagwu in my life. This is the reason why I have boldly taken all the steps you’ve read about, from the disclaimers in the national dailies to the letters to the Nigerian Immigration Service to the cease-and-desist letters to the sworn affidavit, and I am still involved in the legal process to recover my two properties from her and her mother. Looking back and seeing all the steps I have taken, I was taken aback when I saw reports online emanating from Ada and her cohorts online that my wife was behind the media reports, and it further dawned on me that I had gotten myself involved with a fellow I should not have gotten involved with in the first instance.
Sometimes, when people feel insulted, they can use N1 million to fight to recover N10,000, not because you cannot overlook it, but because if people think you are stupid, you have to prove to them that you are not. I can promise you that she and her mother will not succeed in their bid to reap where they did not sow.
Finally, there are some Nigerians who believe that you want to recover those properties because you went broke after your encounter with the EFCC. How true?
Well, I’m happy you’re in my house. I don’t need to tell you if I’m broke or not. At least I can feed myself and my family comfortably by the Grace of God Almighty. In any case, I must say this: I’ve never been a public officer. I’ve never held any government position in my life. I have no reason to hide or keep any asset in anyone’s hands or under anyone’s custody. I have never kept any assets for anybody. So, anybody who has that kind of feeling about me is a figment of their imagination. And yes, I have had a brush with the EFCC, but none of my assets were seized. They were not even in question because everything God has helped me to acquire was done legally, legitimately and properly through my hard-earned sweat and resources.
My first encounter with the EFCC was when my friend, the late DSP Alamieyeseigha, was incarcerated. There was a suspicious and erroneous belief that I was part of the people who helped him out of the UK. I was then invited to the EFCC office for interrogation. After a thorough investigation, it was established that I was not involved. This happened sometime in 2005. My next encounter with EFCC had to do with the Skye Bank licence withdrawal. This relates to certain expenditures the bank did before the takeover, which we did during my tenure as chairman. Even though these expenditures were done in good faith in the course of business and the process leading to and after the acquisition of Mainstreet Bank, some of these expenditures were disallowed by the central bank after the takeover of the bank. The CBN ruled that because we took those decisions without approval, we should be personally responsible for the repayment to the bank. Those payments were what the EFCC had issues with myself and the former managing director, and the repayments are done with, and the matter has been laid to rest.
(Thisday)
