– Clarifies Controversial Relationship With Ms. Adaobi Alagwu
Billionaire businessman Tunde Ayeni, former Chairman of Skye Bank, has led a multifaceted life, marked by his journey from law to banking. Born to public servants, Ayeni’s family relocated frequently during his childhood, influencing his educational path. He attended various schools, including the Army Children’s School in Kaduna and Yola, Baptist Secondary School in Iyah Gbede, Kogi State, and later studied law at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Ayeni furthered his education with an LLM program at the University of Lagos.
Ayeni’s transition from law to banking was a strategic move, driven by his realization that funding is crucial for business success. He ventured into banking, becoming a part-owner of Bond Bank, which later merged with others to form Skye Bank PLC. Ayeni served as the bank’s chairman and played a significant role in its growth. However, the bank’s license was eventually withdrawn, a situation Ayeni attributes to regulatory decisions rather than poor management.
A significant personal controversy surrounds Ayeni’s relationship with Adaobi Alagwu, whom he denies marrying or fathering her child. A Customary Court in Dawaki, Abuja, ruled in Ayeni’s favour, stating no marital relationship existed between him and Alagwu, and dismissing her claims.
Ayeni tells his story in this no-holds-barred interview with the media.
Let’s start with the basics. How was your life growing up?
Growing up, I schooled partly in Kaduna. I started primary education as a toddler at the Army Children’s School in Kaduna. Then I completed primary school in Yola at the Army Children’s School because my parents, as public servants, were always on the move. They were transferred to another state, and that determined where I had to be. I returned to my village to attend a seminary secondary school called Baptist Secondary School, Iyah Gbede in Ijumu LGA of Kogi State.
I did my HSC in Ilorin at Kwara State College of Technology, now called Kwara State Polytechnic. After that, I had the privilege of studying law at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and then Nigerian Law School, Lagos. I later attended the University of Lagos for my LLM programme, which pretty much sums up my educational background, aside from the numerous management courses abroad.
Your personality is synonymous with the banking industry. How were you able to transition from law to banking?
Let me correct an impression. I am a lawyer and I’ll always be one. It’s a profession that I am always very proud of. It’s 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 Abuja.
However, I ventured into business at a very early stage in my career. After my youth service, I worked with a company that allowed me to develop a flair for business. The company was in the business of marketing products and manufacturing goods. In those days, things were relatively more straightforward than they are today. This gave me the background to venture into business, and I later left to set up my businesses. My then CEO, who trained me in making deals, Mr. Rodney Hecksher, who is partly Nigerian and of Irish origin, was a dedicated and devoted employer of labour. So, I was exposed to business very early in my work life. I was the company’s legal adviser and his personal assistant for about two years. In that position, I could see everything my peers could not see.
After voluntarily resigning, I set up my law firm, from which my other businesses came. Also, at a very early stage in my career, I realised that most businesspeople need 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 we set up a banking institution at a very early stage to support my business ideas so that I wouldn’t always have to speak too much grammar to secure funding (smiles).
Was that how Skye Bank came about?
There was Bond Bank before Skye Bank. I ventured into the banking business then, not as an employee, but as a part-owner. In those days, the value of the naira was reasonably good, so the requirement for capitalisation of a banking institution was initially set at N500m and later N2 billion when our license 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 Bond Bank Nigeria Ltd.’s board of directors as a non-executive member. I’ve never worked in a bank as a staff member. By this, I mean doing day-to-day work. I was on the bank board 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 of 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. We grew the balance sheet very well and brought in good businesses. The bank grew profitably well because everybody, including staff, board members, and other stakeholders, was very committed. In 2011, I was elected as the chairman of the bank.
Looking back at those moments, I can authoritatively say politics exists in every aspect of human endeavour. And one thing I used to say, which I still maintain, is that 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 per cent of the time when a bank fails, the non-executive directors may not actually be aware of 99 per cent 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 devote to watching, because you don’t 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 pay 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 situations where credits were designed from the very beginning to fail, and you will not know because they will lie to you about the actual purpose of the credits. I have seen a credit that was designed for real estate investment, but was made to look like it is a credit for an oil and gas business. You will sign off as a non-executive director when this is presented to you. That is the extent to which you may be aware. From that moment, the rest lies with the executives because they are the ones who disburse loans and also manage customers. So, it is the information they provide you that you will work with as a non-executive director.
So, are you saying politics led to the collapse of Skye Bank?
Well, to a large extent. Maybe or maybe not. The point is that, as an experienced journalist, you would agree that if you hold a public office for one month, no matter how prudent or clean you seem, 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. But there are some facts that are very difficult and unwise for me to share with you at this moment, but I’m sure when I’m a bit older or retired from business, it’ll be much easier for me to do so (smiles).
But specifically regarding the story of Skye Bank’s licence withdrawal, I believe either someone else or myself will tell the real story one day. Still, all I can say for now is simply that the Bank’s failure was not because we didn’t run the bank well, or maybe we did not know what to do at the time, nor was it that the bank was not doing well. It failed because the licence just had to be withdrawn, and it was withdrawn.
Away from banking and its politics, could you tell us about the back and forth between you and your alleged ex-mistress, Adaobi Alagwu?
When people refer to her as my ex-mistress, I hate hearing it because it’s one of the darkest moments of my life.Initially, I was trying to manage the entire episode to protect my family, reputation, and legacy.
For someone like me, who often avoids social media drama because of the reputational fallout it raises for local and international business, I did not want anything that could negatively affect my image when checks are being cleared out. However, sometimes, it gets to a point where, as a man, you have to come out and fight your battle, and that’s exactly what I had to do, and it’s what I’m still doing. Like I said earlier, it’s a regrettable episode for me, and I never wish such for even my enemy.
How do you mean? It never happened, or how?
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 irresponsible; with 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 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 and that was why, at a point, I came out openly to say I did this, it’s all over, and I’m in the process of recovering everything that I can recover from her.
As we speak, the Magistrate Court in Dawaki, Abuja, on March 11th, 2025, ruled to the effect that there was no marital affair between the lady and me, and that I am not responsible for her child. In any case, I was never the father. It is, therefore, clear that the episode has ended. Now I’m back in court with her to recover my two houses from her from her and her mother, which they’re still occupying.They’ve been served legal notice to immediately vacate my properties.
What lessons 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 because I have also identified roles some of my friends played during this period. Secondly, just stay focused, and there is no need for men to have relationships that have no meaning or value. As a responsible man, you don’t need it. It was a distraction for me. And from the bottom of my heart, I must thank my family very well because they stood by me, especially my wife and 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 we’ve been able to weather the storm.
Do you regret anything in all of these?
My singular regret is that I ever came across Adaobi Alagwu in my life. This is the reason why I have boldly taken all the steps you’ve 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. I am still involved in the legal process to recover my two properties.
Looking back and seeing all the steps I have taken, I was taken aback when I saw reports online that my wife was behind the media reports. It further dawned on me that I had gotten myself involved with a fellow I should not have gotten involved with in the first instance. Sometimes when people feel insulted, they can use one 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.
Some Nigerians believe you want to recover those properties because you went broke after encountering the EFCC. How true is this?
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 with that 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. Those were not even in question because everything God helped me acquire was done legally, legitimately, and properly through my hard-earned sweat and resources.
My first encounter with the EFCC was when my friend, the late DSP Alamieyeseigha, was incarcerated. There was the suspicious and erroneous belief that I was part of the people who helped him out of the UK when he jumped bail. I was then invited to the 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 sometime in 2005.
My next encounter with the EFCC involved 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 Bank after 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 why the EFCC had issues with me and the bank’s former managing director. The repayments have been done, and the matter has been laid to rest.