Controversy trails suspension of FHA mortgage bank boss

By OKEY ONYENWEAKU

The suspension of the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the FHA Mortgage Bank, Mr. Roland Igbinoba, by the Federal Housing Authority management has continued to generate controversy, with stakeholders calling for his re-absorption.

It would be recalled that the chairman of the board of FHA Mortgage Bank, Professor Mohammed Al-Amin, had in a statement, said that Igbinoba was ordered to proceed on suspension so that several allegations raised against him could be investigated.

Some of the allegations included illegal loans and advances granted by FHA Mortgage Bank Limited; return of recapitalisation houses already recognised by CBN back to FHA and allegations of insubordination on account of Igbinoba’s insistence on not promoting ‘favoured’ deputy managers without due process.

Hallmark gathered that efforts to resolve the matter within and outside the board had involved outreaches and appeals to the chairman himself, the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Lands and Housing, the supervising ministry for the FHA and the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation.

However, it was gathered that all the initiatives are yet to yield any positive result.

The FHA CEO, it was learnt, had adamantly insisted that he would not reverse any of the decisions he had taken.

In one or more instances, the chairman had also been allegedly heard to have said that he was going to have his way at the end because he hails from the same state with President Muhammadu  Buhari.

When contacted, Igbinoba declined to comment on the crisis, but maintained that he had done nothing wrong and would continue to seek redress within the confines of the law.

Investigation revealed that the suspension saga started on Monday, June 1, when the legal officer of the bank circulated a text message inviting board members for a meeting that had been scheduled to hold the following day.

It was at the irregularly conveyed meeting that the interim report of the committee to reconcile the authority’s financial/property standing with FHA Mortgage Bank that the MD/CEO was immediately put on suspension.

However, sources said that the genesis of the entire saga dated back to January 2015 when Igbinoba reportedly handed over the management of the bank to the most senior Deputy Manager, ZaburaUsman, while proceeding on annual leave.

The chairman, it was learnt, reacted by reversing the action and replaced the acting MD with his preferred choice, another Deputy Manager, Hayatudeen Atiku Awwal.

Matters further boiled over when on resumption, Igbinoba would not honour some of the transactions initiated by the acting MD/CEO and approved by Al-Amin which he reportedly affirmed did not follow due process.

These included the award of a contract for the renovation of the bank’s Gwarimpa branch, a capital project that exceeded the statutory limit and which was conducted outside the required bid process.

That action of course did not help his already strained relations with his chairman.

Meanwhile, the circumstance of Igbinoba’s suspension is currently threatening the turnaround programme that he carried out within his two years at the helm of the bank.

Within the bank’s premises, his suspension is being discussed in hushed tones even as members of staff ponder their fate in the unfolding saga.