For ABC Orjiako, Good Times are Here

At this point, someone ought to have said something along the lines of “great men seldom keep themselves free from slander.” It would be the perfect introduction to a story about the rise and fall of Dr. Bryant (ABC) Orjiako, the man who has been on both sides of the fence of nationwide popularity and acrimony. But things are once again looking up for the SEPLAT co-founder.

The board of directors at SEPLAT and the staff at various levels are undoubtedly having the best time of their corporate lives at the moment. It is a celebratory feeling all around due to the company’s recent acquisition of the entire share capital of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited (MPNU) from Exxon Mobil Corporation, Delaware. And they only had to pay $1.28 billion for this acquisition which immediately put the company at the top of the food chain in the energy-producing industry in Nigeria.

As the co-founder of SEPLAT, this is great news for Orjiako. Although things get a bit awkward whenever his name is mentioned in public, it must be said that the setting sun that represents Orjiako’s public image has changed its course and begun reversing.

For those still lost regarding how Orjiako fell from grace in the first place, there are two foremost labels: the Malabu scandal and his tango of indebtedness to Zenith Bank.

In the first place, Orjiako’s name was mentioned in the list of high-class Nigerians who played a role in selling off a lucrative oil field to someone else and sharing some of the proceeds in the shadows. The latter is nothing new in the Nigerian wealthy circle narratives: man owes bank too much, and the bank goes to court.

However, things are different now. Although the troubles of the past forced him to relinquish his SEPLAT chairmanship position, as some analysts have claimed, all is well again with both Orjiako and his company.