A former Group Managing Director of FirstBank, Dr. Bisi Onasanya, has dismissed claims of his involvement in a industrial mortgage transaction carried out 12 years in the past on the lender.
Onasanya refuted the allegation in a press release signed by his communication advisor, Mr. Michael Oshunuyi, on Sunday, whereby he described the claims as baseless and an try and tarnish the repute of the retired banker and chartered accountant.
On Thursday, the Financial and Monetary Crimes Fee filed costs in opposition to Onasanya and three others on the Federal Excessive Court docket in Lagos for allegedly acquiring a N30bn mortgage below false pretences. The anti-graft company stated the defendants could be arraigned on Monday.
The three different defendants are a former chairman of the First Financial institution of Nigeria, Oba Otudeko; an ex-board member of Honeywell Flour Mills plc, Soji Akintayo; and Anchorage Restricted, an organization linked to Otudeko.
Dismissing the claims, Oshunuyi stated, “Our consideration has been drawn to allegations and a cost sheet circulating on social media suggesting Dr. Bisi Onasanya’s involvement in a purported industrial mortgage controversy at First Financial institution 12 years in the past. Whereas we’ve got persistently chosen to disregard such baseless assaults for over ten years, the rising concern expressed by household, pals, and associates from throughout the globe compels us to handle these unfounded claims.”
He claimed that the matter in query was investigated eight years in the past by the EFCC, two years after Onasanya retired from the financial institution.
“What’s baffling is {that a} industrial transaction that occurred in 2013 and was completely investigated eight years in the past, the place Dr. Onasanya established his innocence and non-involvement within the industrial transaction controversy, has now resurfaced in 2025 within the type of felony prosecution. That is past his creativeness,” a part of the assertion learn,” he added.
Oshunuyi additionally famous that, up to now, Onasanya has not been served with any costs, summoned, or formally invited by any court docket or investigating company concerning these claims for the reason that matter was investigated and disbursed eight years in the past, including that Onasanya is offered to seem in court docket each time he’s summoned to defend his repute and clear his identify.
He additional reasoned that the allegations seem to comply with a deliberate sample yearly, with similar language and content material being disseminated throughout a number of media platforms. He urged the media to train warning and confirm info earlier than publication, stressing the intense implications of libel.
The assertion additionally clarified that Onasanya has by no means expressed curiosity wherein particular person or group of individuals is answerable for the management or possession of First Financial institution or some other monetary establishment, for that matter. As a substitute, he has moved on from banking and remained dedicated to creating a optimistic impression in individuals’s lives and different sectors of the economic system.
Within the vein, Otudeko, in a press release, dismissed the allegations in opposition to him, vowing to defend his repute.
A press release issued within the wake of the allegations partly learn, “In gentle of current information experiences, Dr. Oba Otudeko categorically refutes the claims regarding his position in FBN Holdings and can aggressively defend his repute.
“As of this second, he has obtained no official summons, nor has his authorized staff obtained any official invitation from related authorities. As he has achieved up to now, Dr. Oba Otudeko is at all times prepared and out there to help any authorities company with acceptable oversight within the execution of their duties, with the expectation that these affairs will probably be carried out with the best commonplace of professionalism.”
He added that he was neither involved in serving in an government capability in any organisation in Nigeria or elsewhere, neither is he involved in serving in a non-executive capability on any board except for these he at present sits on.
“This contains any chance of returning to the board of FBN Holdings Plc, which seems to be the main focus of the current unlucky information barrage,” he maintained.