Former Kwara State governor, Senator Bukola Saraki and his siblings are doing no less to keeping their family name alive, a move that may go a long way to further bring their family into positive reckoning.

If there was anything really disturbing to the immediate past Kwara State governor, now senator for Kwara Central, Dr. Bukola Saraki, his younger sister, Senator Gbemisola Saraki and indeed, their late father, Dr. Olusola Saraki, it was the collapse of the defunct Societe Generale Bank (SGNB).

Even more disturbing was the fact that Saraki and his sister, Gbemi, and some other persons like Mr. Tokunbo Salami, Mr. Jude Iluyomade and Mr. Moh Basir Abdu Kadiri had faced alleged mismanagement of the bank's finances, more so that the Saraki had a controlling stake. There was an outcry, especially from depositors who could not retrieve money when the bank went down.

Sources close to the family hinted that even before their father's demise, he had made spirited efforts to ensure that the bank bounced back to life. His intention was not just to see the bank operate again, but more importantly, ensure that customers whose monies were trapped during the trying period got their money back.

"He particularly mandated his children and close associates to ensure that the SGBN comes back alive and more importantly, to payback the customers their trapped money," the source said.

Leveraging the efforts of their late father, Bukola and Gbemi, on March 4, got the bank back in the market, having obtained its operating license about three years ago but under a different name- Heritage Bank. A look at the share holding structure revealed that 80 per cent of the new bank is owned by a core investor, nine per cent by Saraki family which owned SGBN while the remaining 11 per cent was allocated to the bank's former depositors.

Immediately it commenced operations, it started with the re-validation of the accounts of old customers on January 28, 2013, a move that provided the old customers the opportunity to either withdraw their money or re-activate their accounts with the new bank.

At an event to celebrate the rebirth of the bank tagged 'Heritage Bank Night', the Managing Director/CEO, Mr. Ifie Sekibo, confirmed that customers had withdrawn about 60 per cent of the N21 billion it inherited from SGBN, which is about N12.6 billion. This development, sources say excited Saraki who did not want his family seen in the shade of "fraud".