Group Managing Director of troubled Wema Bank Plc, Mr Jeremiah Adebisi Omoyeni was arrested in Lagos on Thursday on the orders of the Inspector General of Police, Mr Mike Okiro.

Omoyeni’s arrest, the second within the year, was effected at about 1.00 p.m. at the bank’s headquarters in Marina.
Daily Sun gathered that the arrest followed a petition the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) sent to Mr Okiro that it did not authorize the reinstatement of Omoyeni who had been on suspension since January, but suddenly mounted the saddle again earlier in the week.

On receipt of the petition, the police boss, it was gathered, ordered that the embattled managing director be picked up and he was expected to be flown to Abuja.
Daily Sun reporter who was at the bank’s headquarters reported that the police officers who stormed the premises were accompanied by CBN officials from the Supervision Department to ensure that the right person was arrested and the bank’s operations, which have been witnessing a storm since Omoyeni’s resumption on Tuesday, return to normalcy.
A source at the CBN disclosed to Daily Sun that the apex bank chose not to make any statement because that would jeopardise the plan to restore public confidence in the troubled bank.
The source said: “Part of our plan is to pick the suspended managing director up in the office he illegally occupied today (Thursday).”

The travails of Omoyeni began early in the year when the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arrested him based on a complaint by the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) that he was involved in a conspiracy to steal about N450 million from the bank. The CBN thereafter directed him to proceed on indefinite suspension.

Omoyeni, however, reappeared to resume duty on Monday on the ground of the resolution of an all-parties’ meeting involving officials of the CBN, NDIC, Odu’a Investment (Wema Bank’s former core-investor), representatives of the bank and the embattled managing director. His attempt to return to office sparked a protest by some staff of the bank.

The workers were, however, said to have been prevailed upon to allow peace to reign by the CBN Director of Banking Supervision, Mr Ignatius Imala and top management staff led by Mr John Aboh, who was appointed acting managing director after Omoyeni’s suspension.
The next day, the suspended managing director stormed the bank’s headquarters with a detachment of policemen and got Mr Aboh and seven other senior management staff, believed to be the masterminds of the opposition to his return, arrested.

On Wednesday, which happened to be his first full day in office Omoyeni also placed four top management staff on indefinite suspension.
According to a source, “Omoyeni unilaterally sent Alhaji Nurudeen Fagbenro, executive director, risk management; Mr. Tope Adebayo, divisional head, retail banking; Mr. Samuel Adetayo, divisional head, IT and operation and Mr. Dele Olaolu, head, human resources on indefinite suspension.”
The managing director also reversed some of the decisions taken since his suspension in January, including the recall of some staff members sacked in his absence.

Meanwhile, highly placed sources in Odua Investments Company Limited, the former single largest shareholder in the strife-torn financial institution, told Daily Sun in Ibadan on Thursday that neither the company nor the regulatory authorities, including the CBN were privy to Omoyeni’s alleged recall as reported in the media.

They described the embattled managing director’s resumption of duty as an “embarrassing terrorism” and subversion of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which stakeholders in the bank jointly signed in Abuja on August 20, providing a roadmap for resolving all the conflicts and salvaging the bank from dropping into the abyss.
According to the sources, Omoyeni jumped the gun and did not follow due process as enunciated by the MoU.

“We are very decent people, who uphold good business practice. We do not support people taking laws into their own hands. We certainly didn’t have hands in his coming back. We understand, he brought armed policemen to forcefully take over the office. That’s an embarrassing terrorism. We had an agreement. He didn’t follow that agreement,” said a source.
The source itemized terms of the MoU to include withdrawal of all law suits including those filed by Omoyeni from courts, after which he said, “ The Wema Bank board would now sit down to review the joint reports of the CBN and Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) as well the Security Exchange Commission (SEC).

This was to be accomplished by September 15, after which, according to the sources, the board would send its recommendation on the report on all the allegations against Omoyeni to the CBN.
Another fall-out of the agreement, Daily Sun learnt, was the proposed selling off of about 2.7 billion shares of Wema Bank that were bought with depositors fund by the former managing director. The shares were to be resold to interested investors under the supervision of SEC.
“It is only after that, that a new shareholding structure will be determined and a new board and management put in place,” said another source.

But contacted on the issue, the Group Managing Director (GMD) of the conglomerate, Mr. Adebayo Jimoh declined elaborate comment, saying he was busy in a meeting.
He, However, said “All we want is the stability of the bank. We are anxious that peace returns, because this is the only heritage of the founding fathers of Odu’a.”

Efforts to confirm Omoyeni’s arrest from the Force Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Agberebi Apkoebi did not yield fruit as he did not pick calls made to his phone.
Lagos State Police spokesman, Mr Frank Mba had told Daily Sun that the arrest was not made by officers from the state command.