Fact-check: Did Lasisi Olagunju condemn Herbert Wigwe and buyers of defunct  Intercontinental Bank?

Fact-check: Did Lasisi Olagunju condemn Herbert Wigwe and buyers of defunct  Intercontinental Bank?

Clam: A widely shared post on WhatsApp message attributed to an award winning columnist, Lasisi Olagunju of Tribune newspaper condemned the successive buyers of defunct Intercontinental Bank, including the late Access Bank group CEO Herbert Wigwe, who died recently in a helicopter crash and others 

Full Text: The WhatsApp message listed notable and veteran Nigerian bankers,and politicians who were involved in the purchase of the moribund Intercontinental Bank from  Dr, Erastus Akingbola. 

The post, supposedly written by Lasisi Olagunju, an editor and columnist with the Nigerian Tribune, had this title:  “snatchers of Intercontinental Bank from Dr,Erastus Akingbo as CowBoys.” 

The viral WhatsApp message reads: “By Lasisi Olagunju- Part 2.

“Sir…… Ile taa bah fii Ito mon………………. You cannot build something on nothing!!… These cowboys snatched Intercontinental Bank PLC from Dr,Erastus Akingbola because they’re highly connected…… 

“They’re all cursed & jinxed……. Check their list & what have befallen them one after the other!… Emir Sanusi Lamido… dethroned & Banished from Kano Emirate .. He was the CBN Governor when the deal was sealed …….(Disgraced)  Dr, Olusola Saraki… His family Dynasty in Kwara state…crumbled,lost a vast property situated along Glover road Ikoyi to FedGovt…Now,Boy boy to Nyesom Wike…the strongest man in PDP.

“Late Hubert Wigwe….He was on his way to watch Bowl competition in Las Vegas, California,… Wigwe University now in disarray..I$hee kii paa eyan…..  Aig. Imougkuede.. had Glaucoma operation on left eye,to go for the second operation very soon. Partially blind!!…

“Mr Alabi..(interim MD) foisted by Sanusi Lamido……. Down with a stroke in Ilorin,..in a vegetative state!!.. Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo.. letter writer of Nigeria,… chronic diabetes patient,..Barred from Aso-Rock by Jagaban… What a disgrace for former president!!.. Now, Dr,Erastus Akingbola….. Now 78years, healthy, sound, & living a low profile life & seek God’s judgement on all these people……… He has won his property cornered by Access Bank at 999c Danmole street,VI..IB PLC former headoffice….. Court ordered Access Bank to vacate the place immediately….

“Vast estate seized by EFCC along Sinari Daranijo Street,VI. returned to him(Akingbola) with apologies!!…….

“So,you can see that,God is the ultimate judge……… I knew all these, because,I was there as a staff, when these cowboys committed all the atrocities……just because, Akingbola refused to fund PDP then!!……..Are you pondering what I’m pondering sir??.????????????,” it concluded.

Who is Lasisi Olagunngu?

Lasisi Olagunju, a multiple award-winning newspaper columnist and a recipient of Nigeria Media Merit Award (NMMA) for the best Newspaper Columnist and also Nigeria’s Diamond Award for Media Excellence (DAME) for Informed Commentary writing 

He attended Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife where he bagged a First-Class Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in English Studies. He later obtained Masters and Ph.D in Communication Arts and Political Communication respectively from the University of Ibadan. He also holds a degree in Law.

The Editor of Nigerian Tribune on Saturday, writes the Monday Lines column for the Nigerian Tribune and has to his credit,over 500 informed articles written consistently every week for the past ten year. 

Verification: To verify if Olagunju wrote that piece, PRNigeria fact checkers compared the article to multiple known works by the writer to identify consistent patterns and build a stronger case for stylistic similarity.

Findings show that the linguistic characteristics such as vocabulary, sentence structure, figurative language grammer and punctuation particularly choice of words, informal jargons, length and complexity of sentences, adherence to grammatical rules and punctuation style in the article do not match the consistency across all Olagunju’s known public works. 

While Olagunju’s style is typically poetic, the figurative language used in the said article did not come close. 

Similarly, Olagunju’s thematic elements are usually about burning national issues such as economic hardship, insecurity, bad governance and injustice, compared to the content of the claim. 

However, for proper context, PRNigeria ran a keyword search of the subjects. Findings revealed that on October 5, 2011, Sahara Reporters published an article with the title, “InterContinental-Access Bank Merger: How CBN Sold A Bank To Its Rogue Debtors” portraying  Aigboje Aig-Imokhuede, a key player in the sale of the troubled bank, to allegedly still owe InterContinental Bank N16 billion—even as the Central Bank of Nigeria and Access Bank shareholders had finalized the merger of the two banks, giving Access Bank 75% ownership of InterContinental Bank.

Similarly, on September 28, 2010, Vanguard Newspaper also published a news story, with the headline, “Akingbola opens up, accuses Saraki, Sanusi of plotting a takeover of Intercontinental”. The story indicated that the former Intercontinental Bank MD petitioned the federal government, alleging forceful takeover of the bank by the CBN governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi having been instigated by Dr. Bukola Saraki.

With regards to the claim in view, PRNigeria stumbled on a Nairaland – a Nigerian based blog – article which published a similar piece, but with a different caption that reads: “Do Not Touch My Anointing. Did Herbert Take Over Erastus’s Bank?”

The article alleged that Herbert Wigwe bought Erastus Akinkugbe’ s bank after Sanusi and his cronies stripped it to bare bones. The carcass was given to Wigwe for a few coins. It also mocked the 14th Emir of Kano, Sanusi, saying he was disgraced out of the palace.

Further checks on all the social media platforms of Lasisi Olagungu revealed that the veteran columnist denied the article, saying it is not his style.

According to him: “I have just been informed that some evil people PUT MY NAME on a bad piece which they wrote (and are circulating) against some prominent leaders, bank owners and bankers in the country. I did not write that piece. The language is not mine. The style is not mine.

“AGAIN, I DID NOT WRITE THAT PIECE,” he said.

Conclusion: An analysis of the claim with multiple known works of Lasisi Olagunju does not match the latter’s writing style or channel of publishing his articles. Lasisi Olagunju’s articles are usually published by Tribune newspaper, either as columns or opinions. He also usually posts his articles on his social media platforms, especially on Facebook. The Columnist has himself since denied the claim. 

PRNigeria therefore concludes that there is NO EVIDENCE to prove that the viral WhatsApp message attributed to the multi-award winning columnist, Lasisi Olagunju is actually his. 

By PRNigeria