The Nation Newspaper

Category: Celebrity

  • Otunba Subomi Balogun breaks another ground

    Otunba Subomi Balogun breaks another ground

    BANKING guru, Otunba Subomi Balogun, is showing no signs of slowing down as he advances in years. Like an experienced hunter, the owner of First City Monument Bank is an expert at turning ideas into concrete realities while they are yet no more than mere threads of thought in the minds of others.

    That much is evident in his latest venture, Heritage Place, which seems to have materialised in no time at all to occupy a pride of place on the skyline of Lagos Island. The 13-storey building on Lugard Road, Ikoyi, is not your conventional rentable space either; it is a world class edifice with contemporary security and safety fittings. The tastefully designed and well-proportioned plaza has reportedly been opened for rent, although with the price being bandied about, it would cost an arm and a leg to secure a space in it.

    It was learnt that interested parties would have to shell out 700 dollars for a square metre in Heritage Place. However, with the competition for space on the Island and the Olori Omooba of Ijebuland’s reputation when it comes to properties, the new edifice is sure to be fully booked in no time.

  • Yetunde Onanuga clocks 57 in style

    Yetunde Onanuga clocks 57 in style

    IN the nation’s political arena, women are more of waitresses around the dining table than guests savouring the sweet taste of delightful lamb chops and national cakes. It takes a strong mind, a resilient spirit and an uncommon will to excel for a woman to crack the invisible glass ceiling and become a key player in politics. And that is a feat that has been accomplished by Ogun State Deputy Governor Yetunde Onanuga.

    The popularity of the beautiful female politician was freely on display when she turned 57 a few days ago. Not only did the whole of Ogun stand still as hordes of people took turns to pay homage, scores of other government officials were more than happy to recognise this amazon among men in their own special way. On her special day, the Ogun State governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, led his wife and other members of his cabinet in organising an extraordinary session of the state executive council in her honour.

    Everyone was all smiles as the amiable woman cut the gleaming red-and-white birthday cake to explosive applause.

  • Funke Fowler not in a hurry

    Funke Fowler not in a hurry

    FUNKE Fowler’s life experiences have taught her that life is not only far from being a bed of roses, it is not even a bed at all. Now she sees life as a garden with wide-ranging plants—the sweet, the sour and the deadly. The part of the garden where she spends her life is her personal decision. In other words, life has taught the beautiful lady that her fate is in her own hands.

    Like a diligent student who takes in the harsh lessons of a strict teacher, she has adjusted her lifestyle in order not to repeat past mistakes. This is naturally bad news for the sons of Adam hoping to find a way into the heart of beautiful Funke. After the heartbreak occasioned by the breakup of her marriage to Abby Kuku, son of Ogbeni Oja Bayo Kuku, Funke has become both wary and leery of romantic overtures. Contrary to popular expectations that she would find another guy to settle down with, the owner of Leila Fowler Boutiques is so far content with devoting her time to work.

    Perhaps afraid of being burnt twice by the fire of a failed marriage, Funke has been dragging her feet when it comes to walking down the aisle again. Although there were rumours of romance with one prominent male socialite or the other, nothing concrete has happened yet.

  • Halima Fernandez in steady recovery from hubby’s death

    Halima Fernandez in steady recovery from hubby’s death

    IT IS said that tears shed for another person are no signs of weakness but signs of a pure heart. Halima Fernandez would be the happiest if a pure heart could bring her husband back. She is a beauty in distress, but the one she would have leaned on for her rescue is no longer around. And while some time has passed since the sad departure of her beloved husband, she is just learning to live around the gaping hole of his absence.

    Until Ambassador Emeritus Deinde Fernandez passed on a few years ago, he and Halima were like bread and butter. For several months after his death, it was possible to read the lines and contours of Halima’s pains on her face. She wore widowhood like a gown, displaying the undying love she shared with the late business mogul and philanthropist.

    In the last few months, however, she has been picking up the pieces of her life. Gradually, she is re-emerging from her cocoon to enjoy the fun and vigour of life again.

  • Another feather for Aminat Aramide

    Another feather for Aminat Aramide

    GIVE a bird wings and it will fly. Give an intelligent woman an idea and a platform, and she will in no time turn the weak seeds of thought into a strong, tall tree of accomplishment. Bada Iyalode Ibadan, Chief Bolupe Aminat Aramide, is the woman in question and her tree is her Boldan Foundation which has been making appreciable contributions to humanitarian causes.

    Her foundation has over the years helped to pull the downtrodden up from the mud of poverty and given them purpose through financial and vocational interventions.

    With fame flying before her like the morning star, it was just a matter of time before the industrious woman would capture the attention of people in high places. Earlier this year, she was designated as the Bada Iyalode of Ibadanland by the Olubadan, HRH Oba Saliu Akanmu Adetunji, himself. And now further recognition has come her way in the form of her recent appointment as the Ambassador for the Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes in Europe.

    Her new role with the CCII means the London-based entrepreneur and wife of Barrister Daniel Aramide will become the face of the organisation in Europe.

  • Kiki Osinbajo becomes her own woman

    Kiki Osinbajo becomes her own woman

    THE scriptures says train your child in the way he should go, and when he grows up, he will not depart from it. That injunction is impacting greatly on the family of Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo. His daughter, Kiki, stepped out in a big way in Wuse, Abuja last Saturday, with the launch of Glam’d Africa, the nation’s newest hub for beauticians and beauty lovers.

    For chocolate-complexioned Kiki, Glam’d Africa is the culmination of a dream birthed from the womb of passion and jealously guarded and nurtured for four years. While completing her studies in Business Management from Aston Martin University, Kiki was drawn to the exciting and lucrative world of beauty and fashion. Matchstick would go on to meet firewood with the recent launch of Glam’d Africa.

    Kiki’s new company is poised to become a one-stop facility catering to a broad range of tastes and styles in beauty and skincare. The highbrow outlet in Wuse area of Abuja is home to an eclectic collection of local and world renowned brands while also serving as a concession spot for young and enterprising beauticians to launch their careers.

  • Delta: No bad blood between Ibori and Okowa

    Delta: No bad blood between Ibori and Okowa

    Sometimes the strength of a friendship is best measured by the number of people trying to ruin it through bad blood. If the foregoing is extended to the romance between Delta Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and the strongman of Delta politics, James Ibori, then their friendship is very strong indeed. Not a week passes without one plot or the other hatched to tear the two apart.

    Governor Ifeanyi Okowa

    Since Ibori’s ‘triumphal’ return to the state early in the year, it has become apparent that the friendship between him and Okowa goes beyond a political marriage of convenience. Theirs is a bond forged in the fire of mutual hardship, having seen each other through trying times. Unsurprisingly, not everyone is happy about the strong bond between the two, hence the repeated attempts to destroy their relationship. The latest attempt is the gist making the rounds that Ibori and Okowa are no longer on talking terms.

    Those in the know have since debunked it as a false alarm peddled by some individuals with evil motives.

  • Toyin Saraki sacrifices birthday for daughter’s wedding

    Toyin Saraki sacrifices birthday for daughter’s wedding

    With her husband, Bukola Saraki, as the nation’s number three citizen, Toyin Saraki is not just a Grade A celebrity but one of the grand hostesses of high society. With the corridors of power wide open for her and the rich and famous at her beck and call, whatever party she hosts would no doubt be a high-class affair.

    That, at least, was the popular expectation as she clocked 53 on Wednesday, but the health entrepreneur and human rights advocate had something else up her sleeve. Instead of the blockbuster birthday party expected by many was a social media birthday post where the founder of Wellbeing Africa affirmed her commitment to double her efforts to make life easier for pregnant women and new born babies.

    Those who should know, however, said the low-key birthday celebration was impelled by the upcoming Toyin’s daughter, Tosin, which comes up later in the year. Toyin, daughter of boardroom guru and Lagos prince, Otunba Adekunle Ojora, feels that having a big birthday party could rob her daughter of the spotlight.

  • WWTBAM: Frank Edoho moves on

    WWTBAM: Frank Edoho moves on

    Most weddings are signed and sealed with the fairy-tale words “till death do us part.” In reality, however, death rarely has anything to do with the parting of most couples. Sometimes after the dreamlike honeymoon, problems begin to surface and the union built on mutual love and trust soon falls apart like a badly-ruled empire.

    That has been the case with long running TV quiz programme, Who Wants to be a Millionaire (WWTBAM), and its long-time presenter, Frank Edoho. After a fruitful 13 years of ‘marriage’, Edoho has dumped the show and moved on.

    It will be recalled that WWTBAM has been off the air for a while after MTN pulled out of their sponsorship deal. However, with new cash backers, Airopay on board, it was expected that viewers will once again be seeing the handsome face of Frank on their screens as he anchors the show. That, however, was not to be as negotiations between him and the show’s producers, Ultima, broke down.

    Those who should know say Frank was initially keen on returning to his role as the anchor but could not reach a deal with Ultima, which offered him a pay cut he flatly refused. With ties now severed between him and the platform that made him a star, observers are waiting with bated breath for his latest move.

  • Olanike Disu: Shock over sudden death

    Olanike Disu: Shock over sudden death

    No one knows whether popular tax guru Olanike Disu had a premonition that tomorrow might never come. What cannot be denied is that she lived the good life. As high society is still struggling to come to terms with the sudden demise of Madam Tax barely 24 hours after she celebrated her birthday, friends and family members who had seen her in high spirits remain rooted in shock.

    Olanike was said to have complained of illness and was subsequently rushed to a private hospital where she gave up the ghost. Her untimely death has left her two children in shock, not to mention her dozens of distraught colleagues in the Lagos Inland Revenue Service where she capably held the fort as a director.

    The late Olanike Disu no doubt left her footprints in the sands of time. She was a valued member of the EXCO of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria and also served at the Federal Inland Revenue Service as an assistant director.