…Family stranded
About N30million savings of a former Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters, the late Gen. Tunde Idiagbon are trapped in the defunct Savannah Bank for the 13th year running, according to an investigation.
All attempts by the family to get the cash over the years have failed.
It is understood that the family only got N10million as compensation from the Kwara State Government for the deceased’s farmland at Malete which was worth N100million.
Idiagbon, deputy to General Muhammadu Buhari when he served as military head of state between January 1, 1984 and August 1985, died on March 24, 1999.
The Idiagbon family, it was gathered, had intimated former President Goodluck Jonathan of their predicament in a letter to him towards the end of his tenure.
The family which is said to have been left stranded on the strength of the unavailability of the funds is now seeking justice to get its trapped funds from the owners of Savannah Bank.
A highly-placed source said: “The family wrote ex-President Jonathan on the trapped funds. The records are there in the presidency. As it is now, there is no hope of getting the N30million for the family unless there is an intervention by the presidency.
“This Nigerian served his country diligently and his life-savings should not be allowed to be lost like that. I think the intervention will also enable the presidency to look into the case of other depositors of Savannah Bank.
“Another issue which came up in the letter had to do with payment of N10million compensation to the family by the Kwara State Government for Idiagbon’s farmland in Malete which the family said was worth N100million.
“The family is however not joining issues with the state government other than to set the records straight and put all issues in perspective. Ordinarily, this is a family that should not suffer because its patriarch did not embezzle public funds.”
It was unclear if Idiagbon’s final entitlements were paid by the military regime of ex-President Ibrahim Babangida, but the family is after redress for the N30million trapped in Savannah Bank.
The operating license of Savannah Bank was revoked in February 2002 by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). But the owners of the bank went to court to challenge the revocation.
They asked the court to stop the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) from taking over the assets of the bank
Reprieve came for the owners on October 20, 2006, when an Abuja High Court declared the CBN’s action as illegal.
The CBN also failed at the Court of Appeal when the appellate court ordered the re-opening of Savannah Bank.
It asked the CBN and NDIC to pay N100 million to the bank as damages.
After the judgment of the Court of Appeal, a former Chairman of the Bank, Chief Jim Nwobodo said: “The process of re-launching the new Savannah Bank will be handled in a very deliberate manner in order to ensure that we build a world-class institution that can compete favourably with other banks in Nigeria and indeed globally.
“In line with this, the bank has put together a very strong team of advisers in virtually all business and technical areas to assist in managing the takeover process as well as the business-planning activities preparatory to the formal re-launch of the new bank.”
