Good deeds

ALEX EKWUEME AND SUBOMI BALOGUN

During the Nigeria-Biafra civil war, many Igbo people fled other parts of the country for the East because they were being killed and massacred wantonly and the government was doing nothing about it.

Many abandoned their homes, properties and businesses for safety. Of them, was a young Igbo architect who had a young Yoruba banker as a neighbour in Apapa, Lagos. He also abandoned his home and with his family fled for the East.

However, the young Yoruba banker, while the war lasted, rented out his neighbour's house and kept every kobo for him while he was in the East. After the war, the Igbo architect returned to Lagos and the Yoruba banker handed over the entire proceeds of the rent and also the house to the Igbo architect.

Some few years later, the Igbo architect became the Vice President of Nigeria and the Yoruba banker established a commercial bank, the first by a private citizen in the country's history.

However, he could not get a license to begin banking operations. Many people were against him because it was unheard of at the time.

At this time, the banker remembered his neighbour who was now the Vice President and tracked him to the Christ Church Cathedral, Marina, Lagos on a particular Sunday. He had tried to get appointment to see him in his office but without success.

He and his wife then decided to go lay ambush for him in Church but the security men did not allow them. They then decided to sit by the pew close to the aisle to beat the security in the hope that the Vice President would see them while he walked to the front row. Yet, he still didn't see them.

After the church program they positioned that he will see them on his way out. However, the people following him out and security blocked his view. That was when the banker's wife decided to take a risk and like the woman with the issue of blood, she pulled the Vice President's cloth to get his attention who then turned and saw his old friend.

The young banker then narrated his plight and told the Vice President how he had tried to see him and what he needed to see him for. He told the him about his application for a bank licence.

“Don’t worry yourself. Just come tomorrow at the Federal Executive Council meeting which I would preside because President Shehu Shagari would not be there,'' the Vice President assured him.

By 3.00pm the next day, the Finance Minister called the banker on phone that his licence was ready. The rest they say is history.

That young banker was Otunba Michael Olasubomi Balogun while the architect in this narrative was one of Africa’s elder statesmen and former Vice President of the Republic of Nigeria, Dr. Alex Ekwueme (may his soul rest in peace). The bank is what is now First City Monument Bank.