Less than 24 hours after First Bank of Nigeria announced the replacement of Adesola Adeduntan, about eight months to the expiration of his second tenure, the share price of FBN Holdings dropped 6.76 percent on Thursday, the company’s biggest daily fall since January 2021.

While it opened trading at N7.40, the share price of the financial holding company dropped to N7.05 as of 12.37 pm West African Time (WAT).

This happened after the Central Bank of Nigeria  (CBN) queried the Board of First Bank for removing the MD without regulatory approval.

Also Read: CBN Sacks First Bank, FBN Holdings Directors, Retains Adeduntan As MD

Recall, Gnbnews had reported that First Bank replaced its Chief Executive Officer, Sola Adeduntan, on Wednesday, with Gbenga Shobo. The former CEO’s tenure was still left with about eight months before he was replaced.

CBN moved against the decision, stating that it wasn’t consulted, neither was approval given for the replacement. The apex Bank threatened regulatory sanctions against the bank.

This led to the sacking of all directors at the bank, with the financial regulator replacing the board with new members. Following the clampdown on First Bank, the shareholders ran for the exit door.

At the end of the capital market trading, over 51.52 million shares were dumped by investors on Thursday for N6.9kobo per share, against the previous day price of N7.4kobo per share.

With new board of directors announced on Thursday, it is left to be seen how the capital market will react to CBN’s strongarm on First Bank as the stock market draws to its close today.