First Bank shareholders lose N80.76bn as shares crumble in stock market

The superiority battle between Oba Otudeko and Femi Otedola has seen shareholders of First Bank losing over N80.76 billion in the past week, National Daily has gathered.

It was independently revealed that First Bank shares have been on a downward trajectory with shareholders losing billions since the battle for control of the one-time troubled bank ensued.

When the management tsunami that saw the ousting of Otudeko’s proxy Ibukun Awosika occurred in what was known to many as a careful operation allegedly spearheaded by the now disgraced and suspended former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele also revealed other sensitive issues that almost sank First Bank despite its classification as a Systemic Important Bank (SIB).

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However, in his recent comeback which is still under contention, Oba Otudeko on June 2023 after acquiring the largest share in First Bank in a cross-deal valued at N87.8 billion became the highest individual shareholder in the bank, a move that has become the biggest nightmare of his fellow billionaire Femi Otedola.

The shares that Otudeko bought at N19 per unit are said to be the largest volume of First Bank shares traded in a single day since 2012 when the stock exchange started publishing data, according to a report by Arise News.

The move was considered to be too good to be true, as shareholders were thrown to discomfort over the validity of the trades as they strongly held the view that no single shareholder hitherto officially owned as many shares, and just like World War II, the battle between Otedola and Otudeko ensued ever since.

Although in a recent Annual General Meeting which is still being contested in court, Femi Otedola was appointed a director by some shareholders of the bank; his ragging battle with Otudeko continues to rub off negatively on innocent shareholders of First Bank who daily decry rising losses after several billion went down the drain following the recent collapse of FBN shares in the stock market.