May 09, (THEWILL) – Nigerian businessman Femi Otedola has allegedly accused the chairman of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp), Tony Elumelu, of backstabbing him repeatedly at his most vulnerable moments in business.
Mr Otedola reportedly made the revelation in a statement that marked his first public intervention in the recent battle for the soul of Transcorp.
Mr Otedola recently divested his newly acquired stake in Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) to Mr Elumelu, pulling the plug on the scramble for the top ownership of the group.
According to media reports, Mr Otedola had revealed how he went bankrupt in 2008 and was betrayed by Mr Elumelu.
“I became Chairman of Transcorp Hotel in 2007 with a shareholding of 5% and unknowingly Tony gradually started buying shares quietly,” Otedola was quoted as saying.
THEWILL had learnt through capital market sources that the battle for the ownership of Nigeria’s biggest conglomerate between two of Nigeria’s finest business tycoons, Tony Elumelu and Femi Otedola, was finally brought to an end a couple of weeks past, as Femi Otedola eventually sold his Transcorp shares with a premium to Elumelu.
The accord was reached after mutual friends led by a popular Nigerian billionaire had intervened in the battle, putting an end to an intriguing corporate drama that had shocked, rocked, and rolled Nigeria’s capital markets over the past several days.
Sam Diala is a Bloomberg Certified Financial Journalist with over a decade of experience in reporting Business and Economy. He is Business Editor at THEWILL Newspaper, and believes that work, not wishes, creates wealth.
