THERE'S NO ENMITY BETWEEN THE YORUBAS AND THE IGBOS!

"We risk a critical misunderstanding of a people, if we only hear a single story about them". There are good and bad people of all ethnicities but the single story seeks to paint all people of a particular ethnicity as bad.

During the Nigerian civil war, many Igbos fled other parts of the country for the East, they abandoned their homes, properties and businesses for reasons safety. One of those who fled was a young Igbo architect who had a young Yoruba banker as a neighbour in Apapa, Lagos.

He also abandoned his home and fled with his family to the East. However, the young Yoruba banker, while the war raged, rented out his neighbour's house and kept every kobo for him while he was in the East. In 1970, after the war had ended, the Igbo architect returned to Lagos.

The Yoruba banker handed over the entire proceeds of the rent and also the house, to the Igbo architect. A few years later, the Igbo architect became the VP of Nigeria and the Yoruba banker established a commercial bank; the first of its kind by a private citizen in Nigeria.

But he could not get a license to begin banking operations because banking institutions stood against him. Then he remembered his neighbour who was now the VP of Nigeria, he had tried to get an appointment to see the VP in his office but it was without success.

He and his wife then decided to track him to the Christ Church Cathedral, Marina, Lagos on a particular Sunday. In the Church, the security men would not allow them near the VP. The couple then decided to sit by the pew close to the aisle with the hope that the VP would see them

As he walked to the front row, yet he still didn't see them. After church service, they believed he will see them on his way out but people around him and the security men blocked them.That was when the banker's wife decided to take that feminine risk and pulled the VP's attire..

to get his attention. The VP turned and saw his old friend and his wife.
The young banker quickly narrated his plight, he told him about his application for a bank licence.
“Don’t worry about that, just come tomorrow", the Vice President assured him.

At 3pm the next day, the Finance Minister called the banker on telephone that his licence was ready. That young banker was Otunba Michael Olasubomi Balogun and the architect was Dr. Alex Ekwueme.

The bank is what is now known as First City Monument Bank (FCMB).