Oba Otudeko, embattled former chairman of the FBN Holdings has travelled out of Nigeria. His departure comes in the wake of his imminent arraignmen
Oba Otudeko, embattled former chairman of the FBN Holdings has travelled out of Nigeria.
His departure comes in the wake of his imminent arraignment by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a 13-count charge of alleged fraud.
Earlier on Thursday, the EFCC filed charges against the controversial businessman and three others at the federal high court in Lagos for allegedly obtaining a N30 billion loan under false pretences. The anti-graft agency said the defendants would be arraigned on Monday.
The three other defendants are Stephen Olabisi Onasanya, a former group managing director of FBN; Soji Akintayo, an ex-board member of Honeywell Flour Mills plc; and Anchorage Limited, a company linked to Otudeko.
In the charge sheet, the EFCC accused Otudeko and the other defendants of obtaining tranches of loans—N12.3 billion, N5.2 billion, N6.2 billion, N6.1 billion, and N1.5 billion—from First Bank under the pretence that the funds were obtained by some firms.
The anti-graft agency said the credit facilities were obtained between 2013 and 2014.
Otudeko — in a statement issued on Thursday by Olasumbo Abolaji, general counsel of Honeywell Group — refuted the allegations made against him, adding that he was yet to receive any official invitation to the effect.
Otudeko said he has never served in an executive capacity within FBN Holdings and its banking subsidiary, First Bank of Nigeria Limited — hence he had no operational responsibility in the organisation.
“In light of recent news reports, Dr. Oba Otudeko categorically refutes the claims concerning his role in FBN Holdings and will aggressively defend his reputation,” the statement reads.
“Dr Oba Otudeko is a builder and one of Nigeria’s foremost investors and industrialists. He has built directly from scratch and has worked with others to build many of Nigeria’s most successful companies. This includes FBNHoldings, where he served as a director (then Chairman) from 1997 to 2021 and was instrumental in supporting the transformation of the bank from an old generation bank to its current leadership role as a pan-African financial services holding company.