High Life…Amazing lifestyles of Nigeria’s rich and famous
In spite of the storms that his businesses have been buffeted with, in the last two years, billionaire Tunde Ayeni, the former chairman of Skye Bank PLC, still has reasons to throw a party that would remain on the lips of guests for some time to come. It was his beautiful wife, Biola’s 50th birthday last Sunday. An intensely private couple despite their billions and enviable luxury life; Tunde proved, with his wife’s birthday party that he knows his way around the labyrinth of high society.
Not a few were astounded by the crop of elite guests that thronged the Ayenis’ G.R.A, Ikeja, Lagos, mansion. From one of Africa’s richest women, Hajia Bola Shagaya; billionaire construction magnate, Princess Oyin Adeyemi; Toyin Okeowo; to Otunba Segun Awolowo, the Executive Director/CEO, Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) and in-law to Nigeria’s Vice President; and former Central Bank of Nigeria Deputy Governor, Tunde Lemo, they were all there to fete and felicitate with the celebrant and her hubby.
There were colourful confetti to usher in the guests and canapés to whet their appetite ahead of the star-spangled evening. To set the evening rolling, the black tie dinner party had a constellation of continental dishes to choose from and cognacs for the men while the women settled for chilled bubbly of the Armand De Brignac (or Ace of Spades as more popularly known) hue.
The billionaire host went around clinking glasses and ensuring his guests never ran short of bubbly while the celebrant, a picture of celestial beauty, took turns taking pictures with all the guests. A lawyer like her husband, Biola is actually a principal partner at her husband’s law firm and CEO of Divine Endowments, a fashion concern. Turning 50 looks good on Biola, no doubt. Age has not taken away her winsome beauty and happy outlook. She appreciates this priceless fact hence, her predilection for unabashed modesty and moderation in her everyday life. While her husband has remained one of the most enduring faces and names in the business sector, Biola shies away from the klieg lights and has successfully retained her anonymity.
NO TEARS FOR FORMER LAGOS DEPUTY SPEAKER, FUNMI TEJUOSHO, AS SHE FORFEITS STATE PROPERTY
After a long drawn battle, former Deputy Speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon Funmilayo Tejuosho, has been evacuated from the official residence of the Deputy Speaker which the state government maintained she illegally acquired and occupied for longer than necessary. Hon. Tejuosho was elected deputy speaker at the outset of the Babatunde Raji Fashola administration in 2007 and impeached in 2009. Between then and now, she has refused to vacate the 5-bedroom semi-detached house located at 3A Sasegbon Street, Ikeja, GRA, thus preventing successive deputy speakers from occupying their official residence. The last administration kept a sealed lip and went ahead to reportedly sell off the building to her at what investigators alleged to be far below the actual value for such prime property.
The report of a panel of inquiry on illegal sale of public assets said the property was illegally acquired. Thus, the no-nonsense government of Akinwunmi Ambode went all out to legally retrieve the property from the legislator. Apart from Tejuosho, many other highly placed Lagosians are expected to forfeit state properties illegally acquired between 2006 and 2016. However, the legislator representing Mushin has been crying blue murder, alleging that she is the victim of high wire politics in the state. Sources close to her say her closeness to a former Commissioner of Environment in the state, Dr. Muiz Banire, SAN, may be her Achilles’ heel. Banire has publicly spoken out against the APC leadership in the state on several occasions. What she has been unable to prove however is that she acquired the property legally.
