The current Access Bank is a monster of a financial institution. Compared to other banks in Nigeria and the rest of Africa, Access Bank came from the very bottom to establish its hegemony among the stars of the corporate nebula. With characters like Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede and Herbert Wigwe as its backing, the narrative at the bank has always been positive and progressive, until now.
Following recent reports from insiders at the bank, the most hallowed characters responsible for its ascension, Aig-Imoukhuede and Wigwe, presently have bad blood between them. The alleged altercation is written around the news that Wigwe failed to uphold the agreement he had with Aig-Imoukhuede in the past, prompting the latter’s ire and the heated dispute that reportedly followed.
According to insiders, Wigwe had acceded to many demands advanced by Aig-Imoukhuede before the latter left the position of CEO in 2013. One of said demands was that Access Bank staff, officers and executives who have been loyal to Aig-Imoukhuede should be left to flourish at the bank. In other words, regardless of how extensive Wigwe’s future staff restructuring would be, these folks should be left alone.
These loyalists are supposed to be Aig-Imoukhuede’s reverse scale when it comes to Access Bank. Beside Wigwe himself, that is, with whom Aig-Imoukhuede effectively built a generational legacy. However, as insiders allege, Wigwe recently touched this scale and consequently earned the wrath of his partner and repeatedly-titled brother.
This alleged feud is the first of its kind between Wigwe and Aig-Imoukhuede. Compared to the bromance expressed by other banking duos, e.g., GT Bank’s Tayo Aderinokun (of blessed memory) and Fola Adeola, Wigwe and Aig-Imoukhuede have preserved their relationship since bringing Access Bank to glory in 2002. Despite facing myriad challenges, one could say that theirs is a business partnership that transformed to friendship and then to brotherhood.
But is such brotherhood so easily unravelled because of a few loyalists? Folks are not convinced.
Folks are more likely to believe that there is more to the story, assuming that there is any spat between the two visionaries in the first place. After all, both Herbert Wigwe and rose to prominence working shoulder to shoulder. Then again, things change, whether they be business partnerships, friendships or brotherhood.