By Adebayo Adedeji
The sustained allegations suggesting that former Governor Oyetola sold the state’s shares in LivingTrust Mortgage Bank are unfounded, as the divestment occurred prior to his administration.
The bank, which used to be named Omoluabi Mortgage Bank, was incorporated on March 9, 1993 as a savings and loans bank, went into mortgage banking in 1999 and was a wholly state-owned bank until 2013 when it was converted from a Private Limited Liability Company to a Public Limited Liability Company in 2013 and subsequently listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange where its shares are being publicly traded. I will expatiate on the bank’s conversion to a publicly-owned bank.
In 2013, the administration before Oyetola approached the Nigerian Stock Exchange to raise N1.6 billion in share capital, ensuring that the company met the N2.5 billion minimum capital requirement set by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for mortgage banks.
In an interview with _Daily News Watch_ published on December 31, 2013, Wale Bolorunduro, who was the Commissioner of Finance at the time explained, “The Capital Market was sleeping, and Osun had to wake it up. We believed that by December 27, 2013, Omoluabi Savings and Loans would have raised N1.65 billion, making the shares public. The law does not allow us to restrict it to only Osun citizens.”
Following its privatization, the bank was listed on the Alternative Securities Market (ASem) of the Nigerian Stock Exchange in 2014. The Osun State Government and its 30 local governments retained a 40% stake, while Morgan Capital Securities Limited became the single major shareholder with 38.9%, and UniCapital Limited obtained 21%. The return made by the Osun State Government on the sale of its shares to private investors was well documented and the government of today should be in a better position to disclose details of the transaction to the public. It is important to note that the return was never touched by the administration of Oyetola. And it is also important to note again that the return, whose value was over N3 billion as at November 2022 when the Oyetola government eclipsed, was in the Osun State Investment Company (OSICOL) account in Unity Bank Plc.
To date, the state government’s 40% shareholding has remained unchanged, though other shareholders have made internal arrangements to either increase or decrease their equities. One of such investment considerations birthed the involvement of CitiTrust Holdings in the LivingTrust family upon which certain individuals are daily attempting to tarnish the image of former Governor Oyetola. The question are, did the Oyetola government sell or deplete the 40% Osun’s stake in LivingTrust inherited by his government? NO. Did Osun have power to dictate to other equity holders in the company how they would manage their shares? NO. So why are the mudslingers bent on drawing the name of the amiable minister of Marine and Blue Economy into the transaction that had no link to him?
During the administration of Oyetola, the government played its supervisory role effectively, nominating experienced professionals to represent the state and who duly contributed to the bank’s growth. LivingTrust, which was on the verge of collapse during Bolorunduro’s tenure as Commissioner, recorded a stellar performance in 2021. Its profit surged by 347% to N676.6 million, while revenue rose by 149% to N1.6 billion compared to 2020. The bank’s unaudited 2021 report also showed that total assets grew by 80.2% to N11.35 billion, up from N6.3 billion. That year, LivingTrust earned the prestigious Africa Mortgage Bank of the Year award.
Rather than soiling the reputation of Oyetola, the Adeleke-led government should give full account of how it reportedly squandered the inherited N3 billion investment in OSICOL account at Unity Bank. Calling Oyetola a bad name in order to hang him in the court of public opinion would not atone for the Adeleke’s alleged profligacy of fund realized from the sale of Osun State Government’s shares in LivingTrust Mortgage Bank. Adeleke and his financial lackeys have the duty to tell Osun people how OSICOL’s fund, made from the sale of Osun shares in LivingTrust Mortgage Bank in 2013, was spent.
