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PHOTO L-R: DISGRACED AND CONVICTED FORMER MANAGING DIRECTOR OF OCEANIC BANK PLC, CECILIA IBRU AND MICROSOFT FOUNDER AND PHILANTHROPIST, MR BILL GATES.

This piece is not about the man and woman, not about the two persons but two people; it is not entirely about Cecilia Ibru and Bill Gate but about the society as personified by them. It is about selflessness against selfishness; altruism as opposed to egotism; and magnanimity versus self-centredness.

Cecilia and Bill both grew up in the middle class homes having lawyers as their fathers. Cecilia Ibru’s father, late Chief Edward Gbagbeke Sido was an educationist, a social entrepreneur and most especially an erudite lawyer while Bill Gate’s father, William Henry Gates, Sr is a retired American attorney, philanthropist and an author.

Cecilia and Bill both started the businesses that they become synonymous with. Cecilia Ibru dropped out of the main Ibru’s family business to start and head Oceanic bank with the family’s wealth. She succeeded in taking the bank to an enviable height nationally and even internationally. Oceanic Bank International was seemingly one of the fastest growing and most profitable banks in Nigeria until August 2009. Bill Gate also dropped out of Harvard to team up with his childhood friend, Paul Allen with whom he shared a passion in computer programming and on April 4, 1975, they started Microsoft with Gates as the CEO. Microsoft would later become the world’s biggest software maker.
They are also both married to spouses who were deeply involved in their businesses. Cecilia is the most prominent of the five wives of Olorogun Michael Ibru who served as the founding chairman of Oceanic bank from its inception on March 26, 1990 until he attained the mandatory retirement age. Gate is married to Melinda Ann Gate who was the General Manager of Information Products at Microsoft before she left the company to focus on starting and raising a family with Bill, together, they have three children.
The list of their similarities is long but their most notable common denominator is money. When you talk about money, they both have it and in abundance. As much as money is their commonest denominator so also it is their commonest divider.

They are apparently two rich persons who differ in how they made and spend their money.

Gates is undoubtedly the ‘Eze ego’ - the king of money - of our time. He was number one on the "Forbes 400" list from 1993 through to 2007 and number one on Forbes list of "The World's Richest People" until recently. In 1999, Gates's wealth briefly surpassed $101 billion, causing the media to call him the only "centibillionaire" ever. Since 2000, the nominal value of his Gate’s wealth has declined due to a fall in Microsoft's stock price after the dot-com bubble burst and the multi-billion dollar donations he has made to his charitable foundations. In March 2010 Bill Gates was marginally bumped down to the 2nd wealthiest man behind Carlos Slim, a Jewish Mexican telecom magnate. A 5% upward movement in the share price of Microsoft will thrust him back to the top position.

Though not listed by Forbes, Cecilia Ibru must have been making jest of Forbes in her closet when in March 2009, the financial magazine officially named Aliko Dangote and Femi Otedola as Nigeria’s wealthiest men with net worth of $2.5bn and $1.2bn respectively - Dangote’s net worth was revised downward to $2.1bn in 2010 while Otedola was dropped from the list of global billionaires. While being investigated for her role in running Oceanic bank to near collapse, EFCC’s investigation revealed that Cecilia’s assets value dwarfed the combined reported net worth of the two businessmen listed as purported richest men in Nigeria. The security agency unearthed assets that were in excess of N500bn out of which she would later give up a chunk valued at $191bn in a guilty bargain plea and she also received a 18 month prison sentence that will run concurrently for 6 months. She is currently serving her time at a N90,000 per night royal suite of Reddington multi-specialist hospital, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Ibru represents a typical Nigerian businessman/woman or a public office holder whose net worth can never be guessed correctly. Most top businessmen and public office holders are worth far beyond any logical reason. Not even in the wildest imagination could someone have appropriated such an astounding level of wealth to the innocent looking ‘God-fearing deaconness’ from Udu kingdom in Urhobo land. Most office holders live above what their legitimate income could possibly have guaranteed and most times launder money through established businessmen. Who knows if Ibru is holding some of their assets? Or how do you explain a civil servant having chains of properties, fleet of cars and children in expensive colleges abroad?

It took a Bellview Airlines plane crash on 22 October 2005 and a family wrangling to uncover that a late financial director of INEC and RCCG Abuja area Pastor, Timothy Olufemi Akanni had embezzled more than 6 billion naira from INEC. He would never have disclosed such stupendous wealth being a career civil servant. Tafa Balogun would never have declared his assets to show the over N7bn he stole from the Police force and neither would Bode George have shown his stolen billions being a career public servant/retired military man. And neither would their tax records reflect such since they hardly pay.

Similarly and to the surprise of not a few, in the course of EFCC’s investigation, assets worth over N346 billion belonging to Erastus Akingbola, a pastor and the former Chief Executive Officer of Intercontinental Bank Plc were unearth and frozen. While as bank CEO of many years, reasonably, everyone would expect Erastus to be rich but not to that level. Only Heavens could explain while the affluent and respected banker from Oke Igbo in Ondo state would succumb to financial greed to the extent of causing the bank he built from zilch to be on the brink of collapse.

With the discovery of the vast assets of Ibru, Akingbola and Francis Atuche, the former CEO of Bank PHB, one could not help to be suspicious and even picture the worth of the other banks CEOs (present and past). This imagination could also be extended to the other businessmen.

If after Abacha’s death, it was discovered that he had stolen more than $5 billion from our national treasury, then one cannot help to think of the other big players before and after him. We may not know their worth but we know they flamboyantly flaunt a lifestyle and assets that their legitimate income could not have supported.

Gate knew there was time for everything; time to build portfolio and time to use it for mankind, time to acquire and time to disburse but Ibru never knew. For her and her likes, acquisition is for all season. While Gate is busy selling off his holdings in Microsoft to enable him finance his passion for helping mankind, Cecilia is known to be recklessly acquiring landed properties as if they were endangered species that would soon run out of supply or abscond from the surface of the earth. In the course of her insatiable acquisition, she almost bought up a whole street in the US and an entire estate in the Dubai, U.A.E.

Having being the world’s richest man longer than most teenagers have lived, Gate has long realised that there is more to life than material wealth, he needed to affect others, empower the powerless, support the weak, care for the less privileged and that is exactly what he has been doing in the last few years. Gates goes round the globe touching lives with his wealth. He is undoubtedly the most generous man ever having already spent over $28bn out of around $40bn of his personal money which he has committed to humanitarian causes through Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He goes from Asia to Africa fighting poverty, illiteracy and diseases ranging from malaria and polio to HIV/AIDS. He has spent over $120m in eradicating polio in Nigeria. He has also inspired other wealthy men around the world to be committed to giving back to the society. Warren Buffett, the world’s third richest man was one of the first to catch Gate’s drift when in June 2006 he pledged $30.7bn donation to Gates Foundation saying "I greatly admire what the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is accomplishing and want to materially expand its future capabilities."

Currently, Bill Gates, Melinda Gates, and Warren Buffett are inspiring American billionaires to pledge to give at least half their net worth to charity, in their lifetimes or at death. The programme called ‘The Giving Pledge’ has 39 American billionaires (including Gate, Buffett, New York Mayor, Michel Bloomberg, Paul Allen, Larry Ellison, the founder of Oracle, George Lucas and Pierre Omidyar, the founder of EBay) as signatories. They have also recently taken the campaign to China where some wealthy Chinese were happy to pledge their wealth at death. Gate himself has promised that 99% of his assets will go to charity at his death.

Cecilia and her likes are hardly known to be involved in any significant humanitarian causes and neither do they plan to remember humanity at their death. They scarcely give back to the society while they live and more rarely when they die. They hardly affect lives outside their cocoon rather they enjoy oppressing people around them; suppressing the under-privileged and wrongly applying the world of God that says that “Whoever has will be given more, and he will have abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.” – Matthew 13:12.

In the course of Gates thrust to affluence, he carried so many people along with him in the wealth creation. His company, Microsoft made so many millionaires and even billionaire from investors and employers of the company. Steve Ballmer, an old friend of Bill at Harvard who is the current CEO and one of the richest people in the world with a personal wealth estimated at US$13.1 billion is a career Microsoft employee. Most employees of Microsoft during the Internet boom of the late 90s were worth several millions of dollars.

In contrast Cecilia Ibru and some like her are known to have amazed great wealth at the expense of people around them. Many underpay their workers, cheat their shareholders, collaborate with public officials to inflate contract values, get paid without executing contracts, embezzle fund entrusted to them and beat the government by evading taxes. It is a known fact that the richer they are the poorer they pay their private workers. Cecilia is also known to have directly wiped out the lifesavings of many shareholders of Oceanic bank by diverting the funds of the bank illegally and giving unsecured loans thereby causing the bank to turn to borrowing and featuring permanently at the Central Bank of Nigeria - CBN’s Expanded Discount window; and publishing false results to deceive innocent investors into buying her schemed scam. The investors who bought Oceanic bank shares when it was trading at a peak price of N45.00 in 2008 would have lost over 95% of the value of their investment as the stock now trades around N2.00. Many people, families, organisation and institutional investors and traders have lost all due to her financial gluttony.

As money is evidently the root of all evil, so is it the root of all good done by the likes of Bill Gate. Money has enabled him to touch lives all around the world from Asia to America and from North Korea to South Africa. The love of money enhances the greed of the likes of Cecilia.

Gate also knew that the best time to quit the stage is when the ovation is loudest. He resigned as the CEO of Microsoft at the age of 44 taking up a lower position of the chief software architect. He then disengaged from Microsoft as full time worker on 27 June 2008 at the age of 52 retaining only the position of the chairman. He did this so that he could dedicate the rest of his life to charitable causes. The likes of Cecilia do not quit the stage unless they are forced by law or circumstances beyond their control. And trust that whenever they quit, they leave for their children to take over regardless of their capabilities. Cecilia had been grooming her son, Oboden Ibru to succeed her whenever she attain the mandatory age but fate would not allow it to happen as she was disgraced out of office on 14 August 2010 at the age of 64 after 20 years as CEO in what was dubbed ‘Sanusi Tsunami’ in which the CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi fired Mrs. Ibru and four other banks CEOs and their executive directors. The other affected CEOs were Mr. Sebastian Adigwe (Afribank Nigeria Plc), Mr. Erastus Akingbola (Intercontinental Bank Plc), Dr. Bartholomew Ebong (Union Bank Plc), and Mr. Okey
Nwosu (Finbank Plc)...

Gate and Ibru are not unique in their ways; they only represent two groups in the society. The ones who want to live and let others live and the group who want to live and let others die.

How pleasant is it if we have more of Gates among us, the world will surely be a better place but it’s unfortunate that we have too many Ibrus and just a few Gates?
Must someone be billionaire before he can have the heart of Gate? No! Must someone even be millionaires before he can make a difference in the world? No! Mother Teresa was never a rich women and one of her popular quote is “If you can't feed a hundred people, then just feed one”

Everyone one has a God-given ability to make a difference in the life of somebody. If everyman touches a soul even in his/her little capacity, the world will surely be a healthier place.

After his unprecedented wealth, King Solomon summed it all by saying that “Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher; vanity of vanities, all is vanity. What profit hath man of all his labour wherein he laboreth under the sun? One generation goeth, and another generation cometh; but the earth abideth forever. The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to its place where it ariseth. The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it turneth about continually in its course, and the wind returneth again to its circuits. All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full; unto the place whither the rivers go, thither they go again.” - Ecclesiastes 1:2-7
At the end of it all, it will not matter how much you make but how you use it because we came here with nothing and we’d surely go with nothing.

What you give to yourself is a need and a treat, what you give to your family is your responsibility but what you give to others is liberality which will live with you in eternity. Charity starts but does not end at home.

Rufus Kayode Oteniya – oteniyark@hotmail.com

The election of Gbenga Daniel, the governor of Ogun State, as chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), has split the organisation down the line.

His election was announced at the weekend by the Benue State governor, Gabriel Suswam. The governor, who spoke on behalf of NGF, after a closed door meeting held at the Ogun State lodge in Abuja, said Mr. Daniel will steer the group’s leadership till May 2011.

However, the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) secretariat said on Sunday that the announcement is misleading, stating that the appointment was not for the entire forum, but for the PDP Governors’ Forum.

The director general of the secretariat, Asishana Okauru, in a statement, said the NGF has not held any election towards producing the possible replacement of the present chairman and the governor of Kwara State, Bukola Saraki....

He said there was a distinction between the NGF, which, he noted, was a non-partisan forum for all elected governors in the country, regardless of party affiliation, and the PDP Governors’ Forum.

Controversial election

Mr. Suswam, while announcing Mr. Daniel as the new chairman at the end of a meeting with other Peoples Democratic Party governors, said the leadership change became necessary, since Mr. Saraki is contesting for the 2011 presidential race and could not preside over its affairs as expected.

He cited Mr. Saraki’s distraction, stating that the forum had not been able to comment on national issues as it was known for..

“Take for instance the October 1 bomb blast in Abuja and other national issues. We could not comment because we had no chairman to speak through,” Mr. Suswam said.

He added that Mr. Daniel was chosen because of his exemplary leadership qualities, based on his track record and experience as a second term governor. He maintained that he was unanimously elected by consensus by all the members of the group to coordinate its activities and assure focus.

Responding, Mr. Daniel said that he would ensure that the forum returns to its position of prestige, assuring them of adequate consultations with other governors towards ensuring continued seamlessness enjoyed in its operations for over three years. He also pledged the forum’s loyalty and support to the Jonathan/Sambo presidential ticket, as former members of the forum.

Godswill Akpabio, governor of Akwa Ibom State, said the selection of Mr. Daniel was based purely on his performance as a capable administrator with outstanding qualities to move the forum forward.

Count us out

However, Ibrahim Shekarau, Kano State governor, has dissociated himself from the appointment of Mr. Daniel.

Speaking through his senior special assistant on media, Sule Ya’uSule, Mr. Shekarau said there was never a time he was part of any meeting that took the decision to appoint Mr. Daniel as the chairman of the NGF.

“To the best of my knowledge, there was never a meeting where a decision to appoint a new chairman of the forum was reached,” Mr. Shekarau said.

He particularly frowned at the manner in which a few PDP governors sat and appointed Mr. Daniel as the chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, saying the body is not entirely a PDP affair and not a partisan forum. He said as far as he is concerned, Mr. Saraki still remains its chairman.

Also, the Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, has denied the purported election, describing the report as embarrassing and unfair. He dismissed the claim that any meeting was held where the decision was taken.

According to him, Mr. Saraki has reconvened a meeting of the NGF for Wednesday (November 3), saying part of the agenda for the meeting was to elect a new chairman for the group.

“I have since checked out and I can confirm as a matter of fact that there was no meeting of the Governors’ Forum. However, some People’s Democratic Party governors met at a venue that was never a venue of our meeting at Governor Gbenga Daniel’s lodge and it was at that forum that they are now claiming to represent the Governors’ Forum,” Mr. Oshiomhole said.

He explained that any governor could aspire to the position, noting that “anyone who nurses such position should be ready to persuade other governors to accept him.”

Expressing disappointment at the attitude of the governors, he said, “if a forum of thirty six governors cannot freely choose a chairman of the Governors’ Forum, then we cannot be talking about a free and fair election in 2011.”

Mr. Okauru, the director general of the forum, said the purported election “has created some confusion in the public on the distinction between the PDP Governors’ Forum and the Nigeria Governors’ Forum.

“The NGF is a non-partisan forum for all elected governors of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, regardless of party affiliation,” he said.

He confirmed Mr. Oshiomhole’s statement that a meeting of the forum is to hold next week. The group, which is an umbrella organisation of the 36 states serving governors of the federation, patterned after the American Governors Association, was formed since 1999, especially with a motive to present a smoothly united front when appearing for the monthly state council meetings, which they always attend with the Federal Executive Council.

Mixed reactions

Late last night, a statement by Mr. Saraki said the so called election of Mr. Daniel should be disregarded.

But Soyemi Coker, the factional Speaker of Ogun House of Assembly, on Sunday, described Mr. Daniel’s election as a testimony of his exemplary leadership qualities.

Mr. Soyemi, in a statement issued in Abeokuta by his special assistant (media and publicity), Ayo Giwa, said the election did not come as a surprise, going by Daniel’s “political ingenuity and enviable administrative track records.”

The rancour over the election of Mr. Daniel has led to speculations that Mr. Saraki is being shoved aside because of his indication of interest to contest for the presidency against President Goodluck Jonathan.

It is believed in the political circles that this was part of the campaign to see that Mr. Jonathan has the support of most governors, since Mr. Daniel is the coordinator of his campaign group in the South West.

We hear so many negative stories about the present situation in Nigeria. The decaying power, healthcare, agricultural and educational systems. From within these heaps of shame, there are rays of hope. People who excel, despite the odds stacked against them.Deborah Olufunmi Ayodele is a young Nigerian woman who has set herself apart, she was the top graduating student from the University of Lagos, Class of 2009. BN Editorial Assistant, Gbenga Awomodu interviewed Deborah exclusively for BellaNaija.com

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Wednesday, January 20, 2010 will remain evergreen in the memories of the Ayodeles as their first child and only daughter graduated top of the University of Lagos graduating class of 2009. In this interview, Deborah Olufunmi Ayodele who graduated with a Cumulative Grade Point Average of 4.96/5.00 lets us into her world.

Tell us a bit about you
I am Deborah Olufunmi Ayodele, a native of Uro-Ajowa in Ondo state, Nigeria. I was born on July 28, 1989; the first of two children and a graduate of the Department of Geography, University of Lagos. I graduated as the best student from the 2009 graduating class.

Your CGPA of 4.96 translates to how many As?
I had all As, but two Bs throughout my stay in UNILAG. I had the Bs in 2nd Semester Year 2 and the following semester. I feel pleased and very thankful to God for His grace upon my life that enabled me to record such a remarkable result.....

Why Geography?
I studied Geography because I really liked it. I found it easy to study. It offered me an opportunity to learn so many new things about people, the world around me, natural and man-made events. I believed Geography was going to provide me with a good foundation for future specialization as it is a good blend of the sciences and the humanities. I was aware of the various opportunities that would be open to me with a foundation in Geography. Therefore, I planned to study Geography in the first place. In my JAMB form I filled in Geography as my first choice.

Did you set out to be the best graduating student and what motivates you?
When I gained admission into the University, I did not set out to finish as the best graduating student, but I wanted to be among the best students in my class. I cannot say it just happened; I will call it a combination of divine favour, grace and hard work. My motivation for success has come from different sources over the years. My major and constant source has been God. Motivation has also come from my parents, friends and from reading and listening to motivational and success oriented messages.

Please let us into your academic history.
I attended Junior Strides Academy, Ebute-Metta, Lagos, for primary education. At the beginning, I was just an average student but my parents, teachers and the results of my classmates challenged me to crave for excellence. By the time I got to primary four I was already at the top of the class. My primary school arranged for me to write the common entrance examination into her sister College, after which I got a scholarship for the first year. But my parents insisted that I finish primary six before progressing to the secondary school (which I did). I attended the Yaba College of Technology Secondary School. I had the best result in my school’s Junior School Certificate Examination (JSCE) with 11As, a B and a C. I also had a tie with a friend for the best result in the WAEC examination with 4As and 5Bs.

It appears I have always been doing very well, right? But failure has taught me some lessons I sincerely believe I will never forget. After my JSCE, I became rather complacent and just managed through S.S.1. My results were actually very good in most of my subjects while I was above average in the others, but in ways that mattered to me, I stopped being an excellent student. This was a wake-up call for me and I had to strive to excel and work really hard, praying all the way and striving to be diligent.

Deborah, what lessons did you learn from that episode?
I learnt that in order to achieve excellence and remain there, CONSISTENCY is very important. If you start well, do not relent midway; continue to be diligent so that you will finish strong. Also, no subject is too hard or impossible to understand. With God there is nothing that is impossible. Lastly, for a student, hobbies are good, being playful is good, but if an individual does not achieve an equilibrium between these activities and academics (which should be of high priority at that stage in life), then trouble may be just around the corner.

How about growing up and your challenges in the university?
Growing up for me was very interesting. I had different people in different places that I could call my friends. It was totally a wonderful experience. In the university, there were times I didn’t feel like reading. Some courses initially posed serious difficulties, but I eventually took up courage. In my first year, I felt exam tension but I overcame. At some points, I also had disagreements with some classmates, especially those who felt I was hoarding important study materials, thereby gaining undue advantage over other classmates. It took some time for them to understand that I did no such thing. We just understood and derived different things from the study materials we read. The university experience is a big challenge that every student must stand up to, if success is to be achieved.

Aside academics, what extracurricular activities did you take part in?
In my first year, I wrote MUSON Grade 5 Theory examination and passed with Merit. I was the Academic Secretary for The Apostolic Church Students Fellowship of Nigeria (TACSFON), UNILAG, and later Financial Secretary of the same fellowship. I also did computer studies and learnt to use some relevant software like Arc GIS, Mapinfo and Macromedia Freehand. In November 2007, I had the privilege of representing the University of Lagos at the World Students’ Leaders Summit in East London.

Are there things you would have loved to do while in school, but you did not do?
I would have loved to join a student body like AIESEC, JCI or both. I’d also have loved to be a bit more playful, but knowing that there was not much time, I had to prioritize.

Any nuggets for young people still in the university?
I advise all young people in the University to always put God first. Be very selective of the people you imitate. A desire to excel, discipline, diligence, determination and consistency are required in order to achieve excellence in whatever sphere of life. I wish them the very best in life.

Please share your experience since you started your NYSC programme in Niger State in March 2010.
I was at the Orientation Camp in March 2010 and started serving at the Ministry of Lands and Housing, Minna in April. I currently work in the town planning department. The bulk of our work involves designing proposed layouts for undeveloped lands/places that need renewal, preparing site analyses and reports for land sites inspected by the Ministry in order to process the C’s of O for such property. As a corps member, I also carry out any other duties assigned to me either by my departmental supervisor, the Director, Town Planning department, or the Commissioner for Lands and Housing. In my office, the staffs relate well with corps members. They believe corps members are enlightened and knowledgeable and can contribute a lot to the system, so their expectations are very high. The native people are, on the average, very nice and welcoming. It even gets better when they observe that you have taken an interest in them, their language and way of life. Yet there are certain people who would want to exploit you financially because they know you are a corps member. Nevertheless, my overall the experience has been quite interesting.

What lessons have you learnt during the course of your National Youth Service programme?
Service year has been wonderful. I have learnt what independence means at a greater level: it does not mean freedom to do what you please, it means living your life and making necessary decisions in such a way that they contribute to making you the kind of person you want to be tomorrow. Oh… and I can assure you that there are serious decisions to make! I keep learning everyday about relating and interacting with people. I have also come to understand better the fact that the kind of information, people and activities you expose yourself to will unconsciously and consciously make you the person you become tomorrow.

How does life outside school compare to life back in the university?

For me, life outside school is majorly different from life in school – one does not have solely lectures to attend all day and theoretical concepts to deal with. Life in UNILAG greatly prepared me for the life I’m now living outside school. This is in terms of time management, leadership, team work and relating with people. Life after school is so much more of ‘every man for himself’. Also, working in an office is a totally different experience from schooling in the University. The world I’m experiencing now is such that I have a long stretch of fixed hours for which I am expected to undertake certain tasks. …Yet, for me there are very strong similarities between life in UNILAG and life after school: I still have to wake up very early in the morning to start my day; the work level is approximately the same, I have deadlines to meet, assignments to do (though not exactly like the ones in school), and reports to prepare and deliver. The difference is just that I find these activities very easy to engage in now because I was involved in them in school. Also, in comparison, time flexibility in the workplace is restricted unlike in school and then the caliber of people I relate with are not majorly academicians like it was in school, but people of diverse leanings. In both life in UNILAG and life after school, God has remained faithful and it is His love, grace and faithfulness that have upheld me and helped me in all my endeavours.

How about your best food and hobbies?
I love fried rice with coleslaw. I enjoy listening to music, reading novels, dancing and watching movies.

What do you plan to do next and where do you see yourself ten years from now?
I think I take time in making important decisions. I presently have several options and would require some time to make informed decisions about my next steps. I have not come up with a definite plan yet, I am still working on my decision.