Ahmad Abdullahi Succeeds Remi Babalola As First Bank Holdings Chairman

The Central Bank of Nigeria has approved the appointment of Alhaji Ahmad Abdullahi as non-executive Director of First Bank Holding Plc and Chairman of the company.

This follows the recent resignation of the former Chairman of the company, Mr Remi Babalola.

The CBN’s approval of Abdullahi was made known on Friday evening by its Director of Corporate Communications, Mr Osita Nwanisobi as he disclosed that the apex bank had been duly notified of the resignation of Mr. Babalola, as Chairman of the company against the backdrop of contest by some significant shareholders for control of First Bank Holding Plc.

The CBN congratulated Alhaji Abdullahi on his appointment, even as it described the resignation of Babalola as “regrettable”.

Thanking Babalola for his service, CBN spokesman acknowledged the strides recorded by the company under the watch of the outgoing chairman, as he wished him well in his future endeavours.

The CBN spokesman added that the CBN remained committed to ensuring transparent governance practices at the bank and the continued independence of the chairman and other persons holding key governance positions.

The CBN acknowledged that its regulatory interventions had made positive impact and increased attractiveness of the company to both local and foreign investors.

In April 2021, CBN, given the importance of First Bank to Nigeria’s banking sector, took a decisive regulatory step to restructure the management of the bank.

The process led to the dissolution of the boards of both the First Bank Ltd and FBN Holdco Plc and the appointment of a new board which included the appointment of Mr Babalola as Chairman of First Bank Holding Plc.

The new Chairman, Abdullahi is an economist and thorough-bred professional with long years of experience in academia, banking supervision and financial regulation, retiring as CBN Director of Banking Supervision in February 2020.

He is also an expert in bank crisis resolution, and also serves on the boards of the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), FMDQ, NDIC & AMCON.