The Nation Newspaper

Category: Happenstances

  • Rasaq Akanni Okoya celebrates Sallah in style

    Chief Rasaq Okoya, the patriarch and nexus of the wealthy Okoya dynasty, is one Nigerian who loves to live the moment with utmost delight. Last Tuesday presented another opportunity to see the celebrative mood of the Eleganza boss.

    It was Sallah celebration, but everyone who was present at the Oluwa Ni Sola Estate, Ajah home of the wealthy businessman, would testify that the occasion was more of a carnival. The Aare of Lagos celebrated Sallah with numerous Muslim faithful, friends and families who thronged the expansive estate in droves.

    In a gesture that is fast becoming a yearly routine, he opened the gates of the luxurious estate to people from all walks of life, unlike many other wealthy people who would only mark the day with their family members and close friends and associates.

    The event started with a prayer session led by the Imam of the mosque at Oluwa Ni Sola Praying Ground. After that, Okoya and his wife, Folake, led guests to a reception in his massive living room. The place was opened to the rich as well as the poor. His children and grandchildren were also on hand to celebrate with him.

  • Akeem Shodeinde recuperates

    After a long absence, Akeem Shodeinde is worming his way back to the Lagos social circle. His return from a leave forced on him by health challenges looks more imminent now than ever. Only recently, he was spotted in his black M-Class Mercedes Benz on Admiralty Road, Lekki, and the heavily built Movida Club owner was full of life as he engaged someone by his side in a cheery discussion.

    Shodeinde was struck with diabetes and a kidney-related ailment which took him off the stage for some time. He was even rumoured to have passed on at a time before the now emaciated night club businessman came out to debunk the wicked rumour. His night club, which was the rave before his health challenge, went down because he was not on ground to manage it. He was reported to have sought healing in a hospital outside the shores of Nigeria.

    The man popularly known as the king of night club had a lot controversies trailing him before his sickness. He was engaged in a running battle with Super Eagles skipper, Joseph Yobo, over the management of Insomnia Night Club, which was reportedly bought by Yobo for him to manage. The impasse saw both of them parting ways.

    Now that he is getting his groove back, chances are that he would go back to his club business.

  • Femi Otedola steps up

    Oil magnate, Femi Otedola, has continued to confound those who think that his entrepreneurial exploits are all due to his privileged background as the son of a former governor of Lagos State. A few days ago, the boss of Forte Oil entered into a partnership with MTN in a new service channel tagged VISA 3000 Kiosk Service. The novel business initiative requires the Nigeria’s telecommunication giant to deploy kiosks in over 500 Forte Oil filling stations across the country.

    MTN believes that this arrangement will help to increase the visibility and availability of its products across the country, and this, Celebrity Watch gathered, will translate into fortune in favour of Forte Oil. The choice of Forte Oil by MTN might not be unconnected with the oil company’s status as one of the most progressive firms in the petroleum marketing industry.

  • Cheering moment for Peter Obafemi

    Cheering moment for Peter Obafemi

    Celebrated businessman and socialite, Dr. Peter Obafemi, is over the moon at the moment. He is savouring his new conjugal attachment with his new wife, Lolade Iruka. Tall and beautiful Lolade had a bouncing baby boy for Obafemi, the owner of the defunct Rite Time Airways, a few days ago.

    Until he relocated a few years ago, Peter was based in the United States where he stayed with his estranged wife, Maureen. The marriage had crashed for undisclosed reasons. Interestingly, Peter was hopeful of reconciliation. He even approached some of their family friends and pleaded with them to settle the marital rift but Maureen reportedly rebuffed the moves.

    After a few years in the cold, Obafemi, a governorship aspirant, got romantically involved with a number of celebrity ladies but nothing concrete came out of his friendship with them.

  • Double celebrations for Kemi Nelson

    Double celebrations for Kemi Nelson

    Gaiety and jollity are berthing once again in the home of the Yeye Sewa of Lagos and former Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation in Lagos State, Mrs. Kemi Nelson. After two marriages, her daughter, Adetoun Nelson, was recently delivered of her first child in the United States of America.

    Beautiful Adetoun got married to Adewole Popoola two years ago and the arrival of their bouncing baby boy penultimate week threw the family into a massive celebration mood. And their joy will be enhanced in the next couple of weeks as Anreti, the first son of Mrs. Nelson, gears up for his wedding to beautiful Tolulope Abayomi Lawal.

    The event will take place at the Archbishop Vinning Memorial Cathedral Church and the Haven event centre in November.

  • Chris Erondu set to re-open multi-million naira night club

    What else would debonair man of means and proprietor of upscale Page Nite Club, Opebi, Lagos, not do to make sure that Lagos becomes the reference point in hospitality business? A few years ago, he established Page Nite Club, which soon became the choice hangout for people with high taste.

    From time to time, he reinvents the dynamics of night life in Lagos through various innovations that separate his club from the other ones around. And fun lovers need little or no prompting to troop there in their hundreds every night. Now, they would have more reasons to keep going back.

    A few months ago, Erondu shut down Page Nite club, a decision he said became expedient because he wanted to rebrand and renovate in the interest of his clients who desired a world class standard for the club. This explains the renovation currently going on at the club.

    According to Erondu, the place will soon be re-opened with every amenity that makes life bright and beautiful. “The Page, as far as I am concerned, will be the best thing to happen to those who want to enjoy impressive facilities that are not common place when it re-opens. More so because our service are very affordable and yet not for every Dick and Harry because we have a standard to maintain,” he said. He said the re-opening of Page would be delayed till the festive season to coincide with the club’s anniversary.

  • Rasaq Okoya ups the tempo

    Rasaq Okoya ups the tempo

    From an early age, he had always wanted to make a difference. He knew that distinguishing himself would come at a price. And instead of taking the well beaten path of mediocrity, he craved and followed the narrow path of seriousness, dedication and diligence.

    Popular Lagos-based billionaire businessman and Aare of Lagos, Chief Rasaq Akanni Okoya, knows just the right time to raise the stakes by a notch and keep others on their toes. This unique ability is something that has kept him going for more than four decades in the Nigerian business environment.

    After many years as one of the leading lights in the business sector, many would think the time has come for the chairman of Eleganza Group to take the back seat. But whoever is nursing such a thought must be sorely mistaken. Rather than slow down, the veteran socialite is set to open a mega branch of his companies soon.

    The Eleganza Group is one of the top homegrown businesses in Nigeria today, with more than six factories. He has completed the huge structure housing the factory at Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, and is due for commissioning in the next few weeks.

    Celeb Watch gathered that Aare Okoya is pulling all the strings to ensure a grand opening ceremony. At the moment, the excitement in his household can easily be felt by a first-time visitor.

  • Red Carpet spreads out in style

    Red Carpet spreads out in style

    Red Carpet TV, the events show on television, has unveiled a new television programme known as Grandstyle… the Amazing Glitz. Conceived as a super show of special moments, Grandstyle is a weekly 30-minute television programme. It is a show that is intended to bring well packaged, breezy event scenes to the screen.

    According to Yemi Olowolabi, Red Carpet’s CEO, the new programme “is a wholesome social diary distinguished by decent motion pictures and distinct notion of merry features.”

    Olowolabi, a former editor with TELL magazine and former Chief Press Secretary to the late former Governor of Ondo State, Chief Olusegun Agagu, says “Grandstyle is made up of strictly social and corporate events. It is an awesome tour of social circuits, with special emphasis on style, strides and spectacles. It employs a simple narrative technique and supple entertaining language, amply illustrated with appealing visuals.”

    Unlike Red Carpet TV, which runs on satellite and terrestrial channels, Grandstyle will be aired on Sundays on BCOS Ibadan, OSRC, Akure, and a host of other state TV channels.

  • Femi Babalola set for big birthday bash

    Femi Babalola set for big birthday bash

    Popular Ibadan socialite and Chairman of Pentagon Engineering, Femi Babalola, will be 50 in a few days. The founder of the first indoor event centre, Jogor Centre in Ibadan, is set to shake the Ibadan social space with celebration.

    Prominent socialites will gather together for Femi Babalola on October 19. The social pulse is already quivering because it is meant to be an unprecedented occasion befitting the compelling personality of the socialite.

    At his home at the moment, there is a potpourri of jollity and gaiety. A special birthday thanksgiving service will hold at new reservation area Baptist Church, Iyaganku G. R. A. while the reception will be at the Jogor Centre.

  • Mohammed Babangida’s latest moves

    Mohammed Babangida’s latest moves

    If the story making the rounds is anything to go by, Mohammed Babangida, son of former military president, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, is cooking something new. At the moment, he is one of the new faces dotting the political landscape in the North and there are serious speculations about his quest to occupy the number one position in Niger State.

    Celeb Watch gathered that he is trying to be very careful because of the current crisis in the PDP, the party on whose platform he intends to realise his ambition. He said to have surprised his friends with the seriousness with which he has been pursuing his ambition. Mohammed has allegedly been moving round the homes of political bigwigs to seek their endorsement of his ambition.

    The polo-loving dude and erstwhile director in Unity Bank plc is also the executive director of El-Amin International Schools, founded by his late mother, Maryam Babangida. He is also the executive chairman of Profile Group of Companies, which comprises companies in the oil and gas industry, security services and estate development.