The Osun State Government has rejected the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) decision to decline its nominee for the directorship of Living Trust Mortgage Bank, urging the apex bank to reconsider its stance in the interest of due process, regulatory compliance, and shareholder rights.
As a major shareholder and the largest depositor in the bank, the state government insists it has the right to nominate a director, in this case, Dr. Wale Boluwaduro. It emphasized that its nominee has no record of criminal or professional misconduct and called on the CBN to protect its interests as a key stakeholder.
The government warned that failure to approve its nominee could prompt a review of its banking relationship with Living Trust, given that various state ministries, departments, and agencies maintain accounts with the bank.
According to the statement, the government had been engaging with the CBN up until March 18, with attempts to evaluate Dr. Boluwaduro based on technical and credibility standards. However, when those efforts failed, the CBN allegedly relied on a one-sided internal visitation report, written in May 2024, as the basis for its decision. The state government questioned why its submissions regarding the visitation were not considered and noted that the officials involved only engaged with CitiTrust, another shareholder.
The CBN had rejected Dr. Boluwaduro’s appointment to the bank’s board, citing his involvement in a leadership crisis that affected the bank in April 2024.
LivingTrust Mortgage Bank, partially owned by the Osun State Government, requires the state to nominate non-executive directors to its board. In April 2024, Governor Ademola Adeleke replaced the bank’s then-chairman, Alhaji Adebayo Jimoh, with Boluwaduro—a move widely criticized due to Boluwaduro’s controversial political history and alleged poor record as a former finance commissioner.
In a letter dated March 21, 2025, the CBN stated that an investigation conducted by its examiners as of May 31, 2024, found Boluwaduro culpable of actions that damaged the bank’s reputation. Consequently, the CBN directed the state government to replace him with a neutral candidate to ensure stability on the board.
Boluwaduro previously served as Commissioner for Finance during Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola’s first term but was not reappointed due to what was described as poor performance. His tenure was marked by excessive borrowing, securing high-interest commercial loans for extravagant school projects—many of which remain underutilized.
On November 1, 2013, reports emerged of the Osun State House of Assembly criticizing Boluwaduro’s management of the state budget. According to Hon. Kamil Oyedele, Chairman of the House Committee on Finance and Appropriation, Boluwaduro was advised to move away from “bogus budgets” that failed to improve the welfare of Osun residents—a pattern that continued in subsequent years.
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