Savannah Bank Saga; Depositors Seek Buhari’s Intervention

Joseph Sanusi

Depositors of Savanna Bank have called for the intervention of President Mohammadu Buhari over the inability of the bank to refund their trapped deposits.

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) withdrew the bank’s license on February 15, 2002, but was restored in February 2009, after protracted legal battles.

According to Joseph Oladele Sanusi, the CBN Governor then, the bank was axed for not having enough assets to meet liabilities, did not comply with CBN obligations, and that the regulators had been unable to prevent further deterioration.

Prominent shareholders of the bank were Jim Nwobodo, a shareholder and chairman, Felix Kolawole Bajomo, an executive director while Shettima Mustapha, a minister, was a board member.

An investor, International Resource Associates of London, bought 67.35% of the shares of Savannah Bank in 1999 before a new management took over on 14 April 2000.

But 13 years after the licence has been restored, the bank is yet to commence operation while spirited efforts by depositors to recover their trapped funds have over the years been abortive.

Chinedu Okoli, a victim narrated the ordeals and pains of the depositors in an opinion published by the Vanguard.

Here is the extert;

Thank you for bringing up the Savannah Bank saga and plight of the depositors. What happened to us depositors of Savannah Bank has never happened to any bank depositor in the history of banking anywhere in the world. This is the only bank that is operating as a living and at the same time a dead bank for 13 years. Living bank in the sense that since 2009 it had its licence restored, dead in the sense that it has remained non-operational since 13 years.

Honestly speaking it will be too late now to institute legal action against CBN and management of Savannah Bank, because after 13 years of closure, If we go to court now, we may spend a total of 13 years from high court to Supreme Court. The only genuine option now is to bring this issue before our current president, incorruptible President Mohammdu Buhari.I plead with you to publish and address our plight to Mr. President consistently just as you have being doing, he can mandate CBN to bring this saga to logical conclusion.