There is an uncanny resemblance between Rasheed Olaoluwa and the lead character in Anezi Okoro’s famous novel, One Week, One Trouble. Like the 1972 novel’s character, the brilliant dude and Managing Director (MD) of the Bank of Industry (BOI), has been hugging negative spokes of the limelight in the past few months. Consequently, many are beginning to wonder, whether he was the same self-effacing millionaire they had always known.
According to a report in the newspapers last week, in the wake of an ugly spat involving him and subordinates at work, the National Industrial Court (NIC), Lagos, has been urged to commit Olaoluwa, to prison for flouting its order. This decision came as a result of his arrogance in flouting a standing order issued by the NIC, after he was asked to maintain a status quo ante pending the hearing of the alleged unlawful termination of Ms. Rikaya Zubairu’s appointment with the bank.
Rasheed allegedly prevented Rakiya from gaining access to the office premises by disabling her employee access key and changing the lock on the door to her office. It was also gathered that Rasheed had ordered Zubairu and another senior staff of the Bank, Sonny Ekedayen, to proceed on voluntary early retirement or resign without following due process, while ordering the replacement of Ekadayen. Prior to the MD’s directives, neither Zubairu nor Ekedayen had been issued a query or warning letter which would have suggested that they were not performing their duties efficiently. Efforts made to settle the issue internally proved abortive, leading Zubairu and Ekedayen to approach the National Industrial Court to settle the case.
However, the case has been referred to the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) committee by Justice K. I. Amadi and Feb. 3rd has been fixed for the report and settlement of the dispute.
