From Lateef Dada, Osogbo
Bola Oyebamiji, an All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirant in Osun State and Managing Director/CEO of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), has refuted claims by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that he sold Osun State’s shares in Living Trust Mortgage Bank to a Ponzi scheme while serving as Commissioner for Finance.
In a statement issued by Adebayo Adedeji, Coordinator of Oyebamiji’s campaign team, AMBO Media Fronts, Oyebamiji described the PDP’s allegations as “imagined, false, misleading, and a calculative plot to cast aspersions on his good name.”
The PDP, in a statement by its Council on Public Communications following Oyebamiji’s governorship declaration at the APC secretariat in Osogbo on Tuesday, May 27, 2025, challenged him to explain his role in the “corruption-ridden sale” of Osun Living Trust Bank to a Ponzi scheme, as recently highlighted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The PDP stated, “Before Mr Oyebamiji, aka Amunbo, should contest for Osun governorship, we dare him to explain his role in the corruption-ridden sale of Osun bank to a Ponzi scheme. He was the Commissioner of Finance who oversaw the sale.”
Oyebamiji’s media team clarified that he played no role in the sale of Osun State’s shares in Living Trust Mortgage Bank, noting that the transaction occurred in 2013, long before he became Commissioner for Finance in May 2017. They stated: “The divestment of Osun’s shares occurred in 2013 when Dr Wale Bolorunduro, who reportedly is now a financial advisor to Governor Adeleke, was the Commissioner of Finance.”
According to the group, Living Trust Mortgage Bank, formerly Omoluabi Mortgage Bank, was wholly state-owned until 2013, when it was converted from a Private Limited Liability Company to a Public Limited Liability Company and listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. In 2013, the administration preceding Governor Adegboyega Oyetola’s raised N1.6 billion in share capital through the Nigerian Stock Exchange to meet the N2.5 billion threshold for national mortgage banking.
Quoting a 2013 newspaper interview with Bolorunduro, the group noted that by December 27, 2013, Omoluabi Savings and Loans had raised N1.65 billion, making its shares publicly traded. Post-privatisation, Osun State Government and its 30 local governments retained a 40% stake, while Morgan Capital Securities Limited became the single largest shareholder with 38.9%, and UniCapital Limited held 21%.
The group emphasised: “The return made by the Osun State Government on the sale of its shares to private investors was well documented, and the government of Adeleke should be bold to disclose the role played by each official, particularly now that the leading figure in the transaction is his financial consultant.”
They further stated that from May 2017, when Oyebamiji assumed office, until November 2022, when he left, Osun State’s 40% shareholding in the bank remained intact. However, other shareholders traded their equities, leading to Cititrust Holdings’ involvement in Living Trust Mortgage Bank, which the PDP has linked to a Ponzi scheme. The group accused the PDP of attempting to tarnish the reputations of former Governor Oyetola and Oyebamiji.
The statement also referenced a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) letter dated March 21, 2025, addressed to the Managing Director of Living Trust, declining Dr Wale Bolorunduro’s nomination as a Non-Executive Director due to his involvement in a board crisis, as determined by CBN examiners on May 31, 2024. The CBN required Osun State to replace him with a neutral candidate to ensure board stability. [](https://punchng.com/osun-re-presents-ex-finance-commissioner-as-nominee-on-living-trust-banks-board/)
The group suggested that the rejection of Bolorunduro, a nominee of the Adeleke administration, prompted the PDP’s allegations against Oyebamiji, whose gubernatorial aspiration they described as “a big headache for the trial-and-error government of Adeleke.”