A Story About Greed And Betrayal -Must Read!

This is a story that is too true to be good or too bad to be true.......

It is about betrayal and greed. You’d likely watch it on Channel 153 (Africa Magic Epic) with Chinwetalu Agu as the antagonist but even the most prolific Nollywood screenwriters cannot capture the height of betrayal or the depth of greed in this story. The real names of the parties have been purposely abbreviated while the names of some corporate entities are depicted by their insignias.

Let's build the scenario.................

This story begins just before the civil war, a young SAO moves back to Nigeria with a degree in Economics from the UK and a dream to make a difference. He begins House Office Phones Industrial Cleaning Nigeria Limited which is essentially into Industrial Cleaning and Pest Control. In 1973, shortly after the civil war, he realizes that this name isn’t going to get him the kind of big contracts he dreams about so he shortens the name and re-incorporates it. 

He gives 20% of the company equity to his friend AOU, another 10% to a friend AIA, 10% to his brother JOO and 1% to his father’s manager OC. The company is a success, he secures dream contracts with Refineries, Petrochemical, Agip, Flour Mills and the likes.


In 1984, a young AOO comes to do his IT at the company. In 1985, AOO comes back again to do his NYSC at the company earning N200 monthly from the company, N200 monthly from NYSC and an additional N7000 up-front allowance from the company. In 1986, AOO applies for a job at the company which SAO nobly grants. Over the years, the company becomes a multi-million dollar business with speciality in Tank Farm Cleaning and Maintenance, AOO on the other hand grows to become the Procurement Manager and SAO’s right-hand man. 

In 2004, SAO’s first son PCO graduates from the university and resumes at the company. He helps them set up a tank farm in Eket and secures new environmental certificates and operational licenses for the company. AOO becomes immediately threatened by his success and starts demanding commissions off jobs secured and percentages on profit. 

SAO being rift-averse decides to send PCO to the UK for his Masters and he subsequently lands a dream job with a consultancy firm also in the UK. SAO also gives AOO, PCO and the son of AOU 10% equity each (mostly out of his 59% equity) in the company to foster a sense of ownership and communion but AOO is not satisfied, he demands for 30% equity making him the controlling shareholder. SAO finds this to be preposterous and sternly declines his request.


Fast forward to 2014, SAO loses his wife and shortly after is diagnosed with stage 3 rectal cancer, he immediately moves to the US to begin chemotherapy and AOO is left at the reins of the company. In the same 2014, KO the last son of SAO is given a job at the company by his father and AOO promptly sacks him after the departure of his father to the US. This breaks SAO’s heart. Auditors come to do an annual audit of the company and AOO bluntly refuses to avail them any invoices and receipts of the company’s expenses. PCO decides to relocate to Nigeria to get involved in his father’s business. AOO disingenuously sabotages his efforts in securing a mega deal with some Japanese investors, ultimately costing the company millions of dollars in lost revenue.



In 2015, on one of the many visits that PCO and KO pay to their ailing father in the US, they chance upon AOO and a banker DUO from the white horse bank meeting with their father in Houston. They soon realize that the pair isn’t there to offer their get-well-soons but rather inform SAO that the bank has resolved that it would no longer offer the company loans to finance its contracts unless AOO is made the company MD and co-opted as a signatory to the company’s main accounts with the bank for which SAO was hitherto the sole signatory. SAO initially despairs but intuitively asks the bank to put its request in writing which DUO bluntly refuses for reasons that will become obvious as the story progresses. 

Unsuccessful and learning that SAO’s cancer is now in remission, AOO employs more sinister ploys such as blackmail and subtle threats of kidnap to discourage his return to Nigeria. The bank at the bequest of its staff mandates that SAO would require an approval from AOO when he requests to transfer funds from his company’s account to enable him pay his medical bills. In September/October 2016, AOO and DUO again visit SAO on his sick bed but this time with more overt threats and blackmail.



Against the advice of close confidants and business consultants, SAO concedes and resolves to co-opt SAO as a signatory to the company’s main accounts. It is important to note that the company operates 3 accounts with the white horse bank: a main naira account, a main domiciliary account and a project account for which AOO. AOO had prior been a signatory to the project account but now he sought to be included as signatory to all 3 accounts – the sheer greed. AOO and DUO get SAO’s brother-in-law who is also present at his bedside to sign on behalf of the company secretary on the resolution. This is grossly unethical but DUO is otherwise a god in the banking industry, he makes the banking rules.



On getting to Nigeria, the pair soon realize the folly in having an outsider sign as the company secretary so in a show of desperation, they get one of the company auditors to endorse this resolution. DUO gets the white horse bank to annex the mandate on AOO’s personal account to co-opt him as a signatory to the company’s main accounts. This is highly unethical and virtually unheard of in the banking industry but DUO makes the rules. AOO goes on a spending spree.



In 2017, due to the psychological and emotional torture being meted to him by AOO, SAO’s cancer comes back aggressively and enters Stage 4. He is told to put his house in order. To this effect, SAO resolves to make each of his sons’ directors in the company but when this resolution is taken to CAC, it is discovered that AOO had earlier filed a forged CAC 7 form making himself a director and increasing his shareholding in the company to become the controlling shareholder. 

SAO also resolves to grant his children the power of administration to operate his absence. He advises his bank branch of this resolution and he is availed a change of mandate form by his company’s account officer – This will essentially include PCO as a signatory and stop AOO from signing singly thereby bringing his spending spree to an end. The bank however warehouses this form for almost one month without treating it – possibly waiting for SAO to pass so that they can cede all his assets to AOO.



SAO further discovers that the property documents which he used to collaterize a loan from the white horse bank had been handed over to AOO as early as 4 months prior to his discovery and no efforts were made by either the bank or AOO to inform SAO. SAO sends a strongly worded letter to the bank but eventually rescinds. AOO returns the property documents to the bank and SAO instructs the bank to hand over same to his children. When his children go to the bank, they are asked to come back with their lawyers and when they go back with their lawyers, they are asked to come back with the original documents which were used to secure this loan, this preceded their births - an actual chicken’s tooth. AOO continues his spending spree.



SAO writes a letter to the bank for going against his new mandate. The bank denies receipt of the new mandate despite having warehoused it for a month. However, AOO sends a letter to the bank challenging the genuineness of SAO’s resolution, claiming that his signature on it is irregular. The bank blocks the 2 main accounts and sacks the account officer.


SAO writes to the bank expressing his disappointment. The bank advises him to go to court. AOO sues the bank for the funds in the main accounts but SAO is not notified about this. The bank allegedly colludes to lose the case in court so that the funds in the accounts can be released to AOO with the bank of course getting its own share. SAO’s lawyers are tipped off and the scheme is exposed.


AOO tries to bribe the company secretary to deny signing the resolution for the change of account mandate. The company secretary refuses and AOO resorts to physical threats. However, the company secretary observes that AOO is in possession of the original change of mandate submitted to the bank by SAO – a grossly unethical gesture by the bank. SAO sues white horse bank, AOO and DUO. SAO also petitions the Police and EFCC over the forgery at CAC.



The police case is assigned to the IGP’s Monitoring Unit at the Force Headquarters in Abuja. They promptly send the suspected forged documents to ''P'' Forensic Consults in Western Nigeria, the superlative authority on such matters in Nigeria, they are positively identified to have been forged and a copy of this report is given to SAO’s representatives. AOO becomes desperate. He offers SAO’s children an out-of-court settlement, requesting for some cash and equipment from the company. 

In a last minute bid to salvage himself, AOO purportedly offers bribes to the Police. It works. The document from ''P'' Forensic Consults Limited is immediately expunged by the Police and replaced with a new one that exonerates AOO and indicts SAO’s children (PCO and his brothers) for forging their father’s signature on the resolution that was interestingly also signed by the company secretary. Little consideration is given to the correspondence exchanged between SAO and the bank which ultimately led to the latter forwarding of the change of mandate form which was duly submitted in addition to the alleged forged resolution. SAO and family are not even notified of the developments.

The police once again live up to its reputation as the most corrupt organization in the most corrupt country in the world. A seemingly a clear case of good versus evil suddenly takes a nose dive into the depths of shamelessness.


In September 2018, SAO applies for a certified true copy of the police report pursuant to his petition and till date it has not been availed him while AOO’s lawyer was given the same report immediately he applied for it, in an obviously falsified version which serves his client’s interests, of course having done the needful.


This same version has since been forwarded to the DPP for legal action. AOO can hardly wait for the courts to resume so that he can be awarded 46 years of an ailing man’s sweat and blood at the detriment of his poor children.

Posers:

Why would the white horse bank, who has been in the business for over 100 years, faithfully and fanatically patronized by SAO for over 50 of those years, annex a mandate from a personal bank account to co-opt a new signatory to a corporate account? Was the resolution from the board meeting to include a new signatory signed by the company secretary as required by CAC law?


Why would AOO, a man who was handed the very best opportunities in life and taken in like a biological son by SAO, repay this kindness with the vilest of evil? What is his ultimate aim? Does he want to take over the company as well as the inheritance of his benefactor’s children?


Why should DUO, the acclaimed messiah of the banking industry, travel all the way to the US to blackmail a man who is dying of cancer to the bequeath his life’s sweat and struggles to a person of no known relation for the sake of greed and unrestrained ambition?


Why would the Police Boss' personal investigating team, which is supposed to be the gold standard of policing in Nigeria, allow themselves to be used in such a manner devoid of humanness and professionalism?


It is sacrosanct that the Forensic Consult is the superlative authority on Forensic Investigations for the Police. So how did the police come about a report that out rightly negates the expert findings made by the Forensic team?

This can be a movie or reality...Buid the story in your head or read again.