APC Governorship Aspirant Denies Involvement
- Safiu Kehinde
The Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) Council of Public Communications, Osun State Chapter, has called out the state’s former Commissioner of Finance and current Managing Director of the National Inland Waterways Agency (NIWA), Bola Oyebamiji, over his alleged role in the sales of the state’s share of Living Trust mortgage bank to a ponzi scheme.
As contained in a statement issued on Wednesday by the council, the Osun PDP accused Oyebamiji of being part of the signatory of the sales of the Omoluabi’s shares of the bank through one Alpha Morgan.
While charging Oyebamiji to desist from accusing the financial advisor to the state Governor, Dr. Wale Boluwaduro, on the sales of the shares, the PDP diclosed that it had in its possession a copy of the letter the NIWA boss wrote and signed by him.
It urged him to reconsider his denial and come clean on his role on the mismanagement of the state’s proceeds was allegedly transferred to CitiTrust Bank, which was marked as a Ponzi Scheme by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
“We want Oyebamiji to check his records and stop denying his documented roles. By denying and shifting blames, the NIWA boss has hanged himself and boxed himself into a corner.
“The letter he wrote and signed where he authorized the sale of the state shares through Alpha Morgan is with us. By the time we release the letter at the appropriate time, Osun people will stone Amubo and his team.
“We still give him time to reconsider his denial. We expect him to come clean on his role because the issue is not just about dubious sale of state assets, it borders on mismanagement of the proceeds and a grievous violation state finance law as signed by former Governor Gboyega Oyetola.
“Amubo and his team should meet again and review his roles. Wale Boluwaduro is a clean man who was stopped through the Central Bank of Nigeria because he has all the facts and figures of how the ponzi cabal raped Osun and her assets”, the party submitted.
Reacting to the allegation, Oyebamiji in a statement issued by his spokesperson, Adebayo Adedeji, again denied the allegations.
Adedeji held that the claims against the All Progressives Congress (APC) Governorship aspirant were false, misleading, and a calculative plot to cast aspersion on his name.
While reiterating that Oyebamiji had no role on how the Osun state’s shares in Living Trust was sold, Adedeji explained that the divestment of the shared occured in 2013 when Bolodunro was the Commissioner of Finance under the Rauf Aregbesola administration.
“The claim that the former finance commissioner and current Managing Director of National Inland Waterway Authority ( NIWA) was involved in the said transaction is imagined, false and misleading: it is a calculative plot to cast aspersion on the good name of the man the patriotic Osun citizens are yearning for to rescue them from the current bad governance of Senator Ademola Adeleke.
“In previous interventions, the Living Trust Bank subject was robustly addressed, therefore it would ordinarily be needless to entertain this latest falsehood of the Adeleke’s scallywags with any response, but our fear that unsuspecting members of the public may be swayed by the recycled misinformation, concocted to discredit the outstanding public servant, motivated our reaction.
“We write that Bola Oyebamiji played no role in how Osun State’s shares in LivingTrust was sold to private investors as the transaction which ceded the shares to private investors took place long before he became the Commissioner of Finance in the state. Matter-of-factly, the divestment of Osun’s shares occured in 2013 when Dr Wale Bolorunduro, who reportedly is now a financial advisor to Governor Adeleke, was the Commissioner of Finance.
“LivingTrust Mortgage Bank, which used to be named Omoluabi Mortgage Bank was wholly state-owned until 2013 when it was converted from a Private Limited Liability Company to a Public Limited Liability Company and subsequently listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange where its shares were publicly traded.” The statement read.
Adedeji further recounted how Aregbesola had revealed plan to ensure that the company met the N2.5 billion threshold for national mortgage banking on the stock exchange which Bolodunro affirmed in an interview.
“In 2013, the administration preceding Oyetola’s approached the Nigerian Stock Exchange to raise N1.6 billion in share capital, ensuring that the company met the N2.5 billion threshold for national mortgage banking.
“In an interview with Daily News published on December 31, 2013, Wale Bolorunduro who was the finance commissioner at the time explained, “We believed that by December 27, 2013, Omoluabi Savings and Loans would have raised N1.65 billion, making the shares public.” He wrote.
The Coordinator of the Oyebamiji’s media campaign team, AMBO Media Fronts, claimed that Oyetola inherited 40% stake of the bank’s share having been privatized under the Aregbesola administration with Morgan Capital Securities Limited becoming a single major shareholder with 38.9% and UniCapital Limited obtaining 21%.
As against claims that the proceeds of the state’s shares was not transferred to treasury, Adedeji held that the proceeds were well managed under Oyebamiji as the new Commissioner of Finance.
“Following the privatization, the Osun State Government and its 30 local governments retained a 40% stake, while Morgan Capital Securities Limited became single major shareholder with 38.9% and UniCapital Limited obtaining 21%.
“The return made by the Osun State Government on sale of its shares to private investors was well documented and the government of Adeleke should be bold to disclose role played by each official, particularly now that the leading figure in the transaction is his financial consultant.
“From May 2017 when Bola Oyebamiji became Commissioner and November 2022 when he left office, the Osun State’s 40% shareholding was retained and undiluted even though other shareholders bought, sold and resold their own equities based on their business discretions.
“One of such buying and selling birthed the involvement of CitiTrust Holdings in the LivingTrust family upon which the PDP are daily struggling to tarnish, first, the image of ex-Governor Adegboyega Oyetola and second, his finance commissioner, Asiwaju Munirudeen Bola Oyebamiji.” He stated.
Adedeji however claimed that the Oyebamiji’s administration had no power on how equity holders managed their shareholding and as such could not avert the sales of the state’s shares to CitiTrust.
“Did the Oyetola government have power to dictate how equity holders manage their shareholding? No. So why are the financial clowns around Governor Adeleke confusing him and making him a laughing stock in the comity of financial literates?
“Does the Osun State Government reason that a sustained or an elongated commentary on the subject would enliven the chances of its appointee whose troubled nomination was rejected by the Central Bank of Nigeria earlier in the year?” Adedeji wrote.
The media aide attributed the allegations against Oyebamiji to PDP’s effort to dent his image because of his governorship aspiration and rejection of Bolodunro by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to be part of the Living Trust board members.
“In a letter dated March 21, 2025, addressed to the Managing Director of LivingTrust, the apex bank said “Dr Wale Bolorunduro’s approval is declined due to his involvement in the board crisis as ascertained in the investigation carried out by CBN Examiners as at May 31, 2024.
“The Osun State Government will be required to replace him with neutral person to ensure stability on the board.”
“Since rejection of the government’s nominee, the media have been flooded with sponsored articles aimed at smearing the unblemished record of Oyebamiji whose gubernatorial aspiration has become a big headache for the trial-and-error government of Adeleke.
“The tempo of the vilification increased shortly after Bolorunduro was reportedly disqualified by the Electoral Body of the Ilesa Grammar School Old Student’s Association from contesting the association’s presidency on account of the CBN’S rejection.” He wrote.
On the allegation that the All Progressives Congress (APC) disrupted with imported thugs the Coronation of Owa Obokun Adimula of Ijesaland, HIM Oba Adesuyi Haastrup, Adedeji dismissed the claims, stressing that Oyebamiji’s aspiration was rather accepted by Ijesa people at the event.
“We respectfully would not like to reduce the AMBO project to the pitiable level the distraught handlers of Osun State Government have gone. Meanwhile, we learnt that Governor Adeleke and his men have not come to terms with the reality of how AMBO movement attracted more attention and stole the show at the Owa coronation, therefore this development, coupled with the massive turnout experienced on Tuesday when Oyebamiji declared his intention to dislodge the political facade in Osun in 2026, could be responsible for their marked nattering and wailing to dishonour the colourful and successful outing of the opposition party in Ilesa.
“However, we take solace in the fact that the enlightened Ijesa, who freely identified with the orderly APC procession at the Owa’s coronation, would pity the Osun government for its attempt to taint an epochal cultural event with childish politics characteristics of the bumbling administration.” He added.