Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo

The Osun State Government has rejected the position of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on its nominee for the directorship of Living Trust Mortgage Bank, urging the apex bank to review its position in the interest of due process, compliance with regulatory acts and shareholder interest.

The state government posited that as a major shareholder and as largest depositor in the said bank, the state has inalienable right to nominate a director which in this case is Dr Wale Boluwaduro.

While affirming that its nominee has no criminal or professional misconduct, the government urged the leadership of the apex bank to reconsider its so as to protect the state’s interest as a major shareholder in the said bank.

Osun state government posited that failure to grant the state its due rights in the appointment of a director may lead to a review of its banking relationship with the Living Trust as the depositor with various running costs of the Ministry, Department and Agency in the bank.

 The statement explained  that up till 18th of March , there were attempts to evaluate Dr Bolorunduro based on technicality and credibility, noting that it was when that failed that a one sided internal visitation report, written since May 2024 was now used as a basis for the CBN’s decision. 

 The state government wonders why the submissions of the government on the visitation were not considered. 

The CBN is invited to note that officials who came only spoke to CitiTrust alone.

The  CBN has rejected the appointment of Dr. Bolorunduro into the board of the LivingTrust Mortgage Bank owing to his involvement in the crisis that rocked the bank’s board in April 2024.

LivingTrust is partly owned by the Osun State Government, and by arrangement, the state government is required to nominate non-executive directors to the board of the bank. 

In April 2024, Governor Ademola Adeleke replaced Alhaji Adebayo Jimoh, the erstwhile chairman of the bank, with Bolorunduro as Chairman, a move many saw as economic disaster given Bolorunduro’s recent bad image, distasteful politics and controversy that engulfed his tenure as finance commissioner in the state.

According to the apex bank, in a letter dated March 21, 2025, “the investigation carried out by the CBN Examiners as at May 31, 2024” found the former Osun Finance Commissioner culpable of tarnishing the image of the bank.

By this rejection, the CBN noted that the Osun State Government would be required to replace Bolorunduro “with a neutral person to ensure stability on the board.”

Bolorunduro served as Commissioner for Finance during Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola’s first term in office but was denied reappointment in the second term due to poor performance ascribed to him. His legacy includes burdening the state with unsustainable debt and securing costly commercial loans for extravagant school projects—many of which remain sparsely populated.

On November 1, 2013, the media was awash with reports of the Osun State House of Assembly lampooning Bolorunduro for implementing a poor budget. According to Hon. Kamil Oyedele, Chairman of the House Committee on Finance and Appropriation, Bolorunduro was advised to “move away from bogus budgets” that had no real impact on citizens’ welfare. Similar criticisms followed in subsequent year.

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