'Some said Wigwe and Aig were fronting for me at Access Bank'

The 14th Emir of Kano State, Mohammed Sanusi, has said that certain people believe he is the owner of Access Bank.

He said such fellows felt the known owners – the late Herbert Wigwe and Aig-Imoukhuede – were fronting for him.

According to him, this is based on how Wigwe had especially been kind to him.

This is as he recounted how the late Chief Executive Officer of Access Bank Plc, Dr Herbert Wigwe, came to his rescue after he was dethroned and had to leave the state.

According to ‘The PUNCH’, he made this known at the continuation of the night of tributes organised in Wigwe’s honour in Lagos on Wednesday.

Recounting his sojourn with the late Wigwe, Sanusi, who broke down in tears thrice, recalled how the late banker came to his rescue when he was dethroned and needed a place for him and his family to stay.

He said, “When I had problems in Kano, I called him (Wigwe) about six months before I was to leave Kano, and I said to him, ‘Herbert I know you will give all your best to solve all these problems, but I am convinced that this is what is going to happen.’ And he said to me ‘Your Highness, don’t worry, whatever happens, don’t worry we are here for you.’

“On the day I heard on the radio that I was dethroned, the night before it happened, I called and said I wanted to come to Lagos. The announcement was made at about 9 am, and by noon, Herbert had a plane at the tarmac in Kano. I put my family on that plane, no message, no phone call, I put them on that plane. Herbert received them, put them in a hotel, and later got them accommodation for months.”

According to Sanusi, Wigwe’s kindness to him gave many the impression he (Sanusi) owned Access Bank, while Wigwe and Aig-Imoukhuede were his stooges.

“When I came we stayed there. Some people believe I own access bank and Aig and Herbert are fronting for me. They gave me the cars and the drivers, they gave me security and a private jet and they ask for nothing and they don’t talk about it. I have lived in Lagos for four years, the house my family lives in was provided by Herbert,” he said.

He added, “When I heard of his death, I said ‘In the coming weeks and months, people will get to know Herbert the human being’. They know him as a banker, as a businessman, they don’t know him as a human being. He was always about others, not about himself. You can’t imagine how one human being could have been so many things to so many people.”