Adaobi Alagwu: “I Regret Meeting Her’ - Tunde Ayeni Finally Breaks Silence

Former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Skye Bank Plc, Tunde Ayeni for the very first time has directly addressed the Adaobi Alagwu saga since the matter began years ago.  In a recent interview with journalists in Lagos, Mr Ayeni addressed the controversy surrounding Adaobi and emphatically stated that he regrets ever meeting her, described Adaobi and her mother as desperate  - adding that her chapter has been erased from his life trajectory.    This interview marks the first time Mr Ayeni has taken time to field questions from the media on the issue and he left no stone unturned. Read Excerpts below. Growing Up? Growing up, I schooled partly in Kaduna. As a toddler, I started my primary education at Army children's school in Kaduna, then I completed my primary school in Yola at the Army children school in Yola, because my parents, as  public servants, were moving. They were transferred to another state and that determined where I had to be. I subsequently returned to my village to attend a seminary secondary school called Baptist secondary school, Iyah Gbede in Ijumu LGA of Kogi State.    From there, I did my HSC in Ilorin at Kwara State College of Technology, but its now called Kwara State Polytechnic. After that, I had the privilege to study law at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and I proceeded to Nigerian Law School, Lagos. I proceeded to the  University of Lagos for my LLM program which pretty much sums up my educational background. All of which are aside the numerous management courses abroad.   Transition From Law To Banking.And The Failure Of Skye Bank?  Let me correct my impression. I am a lawyer and  I'll always be one. It's a profession that I am always very proud of. Its also good to mention that being a lawyer does not necessarily mean going to court. You can be a lawyer without going to court. The two aspects of legal practice are combined in Nigeria, by this I mean that you can effectively practice as a solicitor and an advocate but in a place like England for instance, you can either be a  Barrister or a Solicitor, you can't combine the two. So I still run my law office very actively till today, both in Lagos and in  Abuja.   However, at a very early stage in my career, I ventured into business. After my youth service, I worked  with a company that afforded me the opportunity to have flair for business. The company was in the business of marketing products and also manufacturing of goods. You know, in those days, things were relatively easier than what it is today. This gave me the background venture into business and when I left to set up businesses of my own, my then CEO, who trained me in the art of making deals, Mr. Rodney Hecksher, who is partly Nigerian and of Irish origin was such a dedicated and devoted employer of labour.  So I was exposed to business at a very early stage of my work life. I was his personal assistant for about two years and in that position, I could see everything that peers were not able to see. After I voluntarily resigned my employment, I went ahead to set up my law firm from where my other businesses came from. Also, at a very early stage in my career, I realized that what most business people need is the funding capability to succeed in business. You can have different business ideas but what is most important is the privilege of having the capacity to fund them to success. So, I made the decision to seek partners and set up a banking institution at a very early stage to support my business ideas so I wouldn't always have to speak too much grammar to secure funding (smiles). So I ventured into the banking business at the time, not as an employee, but as a part owner. Those days, the value of the naira was reasonably good, so the requirement for capitalization of a banking institution was initially set at N500m and later N2 Billion when our licence was granted. This system continued to change as productivity and the value of our naira continued to decline even though the economy continued to expand. I was therefore on the board of directors of Bond Bank Nigeria Ltd, as a Non Executive Member. I've never worked in a bank as a staff, by this I mean doing day to day work. I was on the  board of the bank till 2005 when we joined the group that eventually became Skye Bank PLC due to regulatory intervention by the CBN. At the beginning of the operation of Skye Bank, I opted out from the board, at that time, I had a representation on the board, but later on when I felt I needed to watch over my investment, I rejoined the board, I came on the board sometime in 2008 and I can confidently say that,  we did very well for the institution at the time. In that we grew the balance sheet very well and brought in good businesses, the bank grew profitably well because everybody including staff, board members and stakeholders were very committed and sometimes in  2011, I was elected as the chairman of the bank. Looking back at those moments, I can authoritatively say there is politics in every aspect of  human endeavour. And one thing I used to say, and which I still maintain is, no matter how smart you might be, you can only see what is in front of you and hardly see what lies behind. For instance, 90% of the time when a bank fails, the non-executive directors may not actually be aware of 99% of the reasons that may have led to the failure. It always falls on the laps of the executive directors, because as a non-executive director,  you can only know what the Executives want you to know and see. However, no matter how much time you devoted to watching, because you dont earn income from the institution other than the so called sitting allowance and you have your own primary responsibility of watching over your other business ventures that pays your bills,  things tend to go wrong when it is least expected and because our level of corporate governance in most institutions is still poor in this environment, there are lots of corporate deceit that leads to corporate failures.   In my career I have seen a situation where credit has been designed from the very beginning to fail, and you will not know because they will lie to you on what the actual purpose of the credit is all about. I have seen a credit that was designed for real estate investment, but made to look like it is a credit for an oil and gas business, when this is presented to you and you sign off as a non-executive that is the extent to which you may be aware, from that  moment the rest lies with the executives because they are the one who disburses the loans and also manages the customers. So, it is the information they provide you that you will work with as a Non Executive Director. There are some facts that are very difficult and unwise for me to share with you at this moment but Im sure when Im a bit older or retired from business itll be much easier for me to do so (smiles). But specifically on the story of the withdrawal of the license of Skye Bank, I believe either someone else or myself will tell the real story one day but all I can say for now is simply,  the Bank's failure was not because we didnt run the bank well or maybe we did not know what to do at the time, neither was it that the bank was not doing well, it failed because the license just had to be withdrawn and it was withdrawn.    Role Of Politics In Banking? Well, to a large extent maybe or maybe not. The point is that, as an experienced journalist, you would agree with me that if you hold a public office for one month, no matter how prudent or clean you might seem to appear, if the powers that be want to find something against you, they will surely do. The same thing applies to banking. If the regulators want to find you culpable for certain reasons,  I can  assure  you that it will be very difficult for you to escape it.  The back and forth between you and your so-called ex-mistress, Adaobi Alagwu?  When people refer to her as my ex-mistress, I hate to even hear it because its one of the darkest moments of my life. I regret ever meeting that lady. Initially, I was trying to manage the entire episode to protect my family, reputation and legacy but it quickly became obvious to me that I was dealing with a lowlife who will go to any length to take advantage and blackmail me with the support of her family. For someone like me, who often avoids social media drama because of the reputational fallout it raises for business both locally and internationally, I did not want anything that could negatively affect my image when checks are being cleared out. Unfortunately, characters like this lady know this and they take advantage of that, believing that people like me cannot come out like them on social media platforms. However, sometimes, it gets to a point where as a man you just have to come out and fight your battle and thats exactly what I had to do and it's what Im still doing. Like I said earlier, Its a regrettable episode for me and I never wish such for even my enemy.   She and her mother are very nasty and desperate individuals, and I regret ever having anything to do with her and her entire family. I don't even want to remember that period of my life, It is completely blocked out of my memory. Most people don't understand what actually happened. I can tell you for a fact that I'm not an irresponsible person and In hindsight when all this started and I saw all the red flags, I should have just  walked away. I mean, people should take it as a lesson from me, once you discover that you are in a circle you shouldn't be, just cut the line and just move on, let the heavens fall if it has to fall. But I was trying to manage the situation, and I was doing things that ordinarily I shouldn't have done, like providing maintenance, even helping with accommodation, and so on. Those things that I did out of the goodness of my heart were used to blackmail me, and that was why at a point, I came out openly to say I did this, it's all over and Im recovering everything that I can recover from the idiot and her shameless mother.   Whats The Stance Now?:  The Magistrate Court in Dawaki, Abuja on March 11th, 2025 ruled to the effect that there was no marital affair between the lady and myself, and that I am not responsible for her child. In any case I was never the father, the child is not mine and her desperation to pin the child on me just goes to show the level of her brazen stupidity and classlessness. It is therefore clear that the episode has ended. Now I'm back in court with her to recover my two  houses from her and her mother which theyre shamelessly still occupying. If the family has any iota of respect and dignity for themselves, do i need to tell them before they will vacate my houses? It's clear that people like them just like to reap where they did not sow but this time itll not work, theyve been served the legal notice to immediately vacate my properties located at DD38, Lakeview Estates, off Alex Ekwueme, Abuja and No. 48, Mike Akhigbe Street, Jabi, Abuja and as i mentioned earlier, the case is now in court.  What lesson(s) have you learnt so far?  A very big lesson, and for the sake of my name, my children, my wife, and my legacy, I have learnt so much during this period that it is only good for people to watch very carefully before they make friends becauseI have also identified roles some of my friends had played during this period. Secondly, just stay focused, and there is no need for men to have a relationship that has no meaning and has no value in it. These sort of relationships come with short moments of pleasure, but with huge devastating consequences. As a responsible man, you don't need it. It was a distraction for me, especially when the person involved is young and immature, these characters can misbehave so stupidly without thinking of the dire consequences of their actions and that is exactly what this useless Adaobi did.    Managing the fall out with your wife and kids?  From the bottom of my heart, I must thank my family very well because they stood by me. Especially my wife and my children. At a point I had to come clean to them, they understood and till today they still stand with me. Even though my actions were not permissible, they understood and together weve been able to weather the storm.  Your regret in all of this? My singular regret in all of this is the fact that I ever came across Adaobi Alagwu in my life.  This is the reason why I have boldly taken all the steps youve read about; from the disclaimers in the national dailies, to the letters to the Nigerian Immigration Service, to the Cease and Desist letters, to the sworn affidavit and I am still involved in the legal process to recover my two properties from her and her mother. Looking back and seeing all the steps ive taken, I was taken aback when I saw reports online emanating from Ada and her cohorts online that my wife was behind the media reports and it further dawned on me that I had gotten myself involved with a delusional fellow.   Sometimes when people feel insulted, they can use 1 million naira to fight to recover 10,000 Naira, not because you cannot overlook it, but because if people think you are stupid, you have to prove to them that you are not and I can promise you that she and her mother will not succeed to continue shamelessly live in and enjoy my properties.    Encounter With EFCC?  Well, I'm happy you're in my house, and I don't need to tell you if I'm broke or not. At least I can feed myself and my family comfortably by the Grace of God Almighty. In any case, I must say this, I've never been a public officer. I've never held any government position in my life, so I have no reason to hide or keep any asset in anybody's hands or in anybody's custody and I have never also kept any asset for anybody. So, anybody who has that kind of feeling about me is the figment of their imagination/ And yes, I have had a brush with the EFCC, but none of my assets were seized, they were not even in question because everything God has helped me to acquire, were done legally, legitimately and properly through my hard earned sweat and resources. My encounter with the EFCC at  first was when my friend, late DSP Alamieyeseigha was incarcerated, there was the suspicious and erroneous belief that I was part of the people that helped him out of the UK when he jumped bail, I was then invited to EFCC office for interrogation, after a thorough investigation, it was established that I was not involved, as a lawyer, I can never involve myself in such illegality, this happened sometimes in 2005. My next encounter with EFCC had to do with the Skye Bank licence withdrawal, this relates to certain expenditures the bank did before the takeover which we did during my tenure as chairman, even though those expenditures were done in good faith in the course of business, and in the process leading to and after the acquisition of Mainstreet bank, some of these expenditures were disallowed by the Central Bankafter the takeover of the bank. So, the CBN ruled that, because we took those decisions without approval, we should be personally responsible for the repayment to the bank. Those payments were what the EFCC had issues with myself and the former Managing Director, and the repayments are done with and the matter has been laid to rest.   So, none of my assets are encumbered by the anti graft body. It is therefore strange to me as to where this story often comes from. Im sure as a journalist, you know that Nigerians like to talk without facts, I don't get bucked down with those types of stories, all I do is to always remain focused and committed to my business and not be distracted.  The post Adaobi Alagwu: I Regret Meeting Her - Tunde Ayeni Finally Breaks Silence appeared first on Linda Ikeji Blog.