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Tag: Bola Shagaya

  • Tinubu celebrates business icon Bola Shagaya at 65

    Tinubu celebrates business icon Bola Shagaya at 65

    President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has congratulated renowned businesswoman and philanthropist, Hajia Muinat Bola Shagaya, on her 65th birthday. 

    This milestone celebration honours the founder and CEO of Bolmus Group International, a trailblazing entrepreneur whose impactful endeavors have made a significant difference in the lives of numerous Nigerians.

    Hajia Shagaya’s impressive business acumen and diverse investments in key sectors such as oil, real estate, banking, and communications, have been instrumental in driving Nigeria’s economic growth. 

    Her remarkable contributions have earned her recognition and admiration from the President and the nation at large.

    In a statement by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, President Tinubu joined Hajia Shagaya’s family, friends, and business associates in celebrating the momentous occasion, praising her tireless efforts and commitment to the country’s development. 

    He wished her continued health, happiness, and success in all her future endeavours.

    Read Also: Bola Shagaya plans classy wedding for son

    “President Bola Tinubu congratulates businesswoman Hajia Muinat Bola Shagaya as she celebrates her 65th birthday.

    “The President joins family, friends and business associates in celebrating the founder and CEO of Bolmus Group International, whose business and philanthropic endeavours have touched the lives of many Nigerians.

    “The President commends Hajia Shagaya’s contribution to the nation’s economic growth, particularly through her diverse business investments in industries such as oil, real estate, banking, and communications.  

    “President Tinubu extends his heartfelt wishes for the continued health and happiness of the trailblazing entrepreneur,” the statement reads..

  • Bola Shagaya plans classy wedding for son

    Bola Shagaya plans classy wedding for son

    Elegant businesswoman, socialite and investor Hajia Bola Shagaya, is in a league of her own. Herpanache and aura have made her a delight of the high and mighty in Nigeria.

    She is a wealthy and influential woman who loves to live a good life. A woman of substance; anyone who is in her good book will not regret having her in their corner. She is also a woman who knows how to maintain friendship. More reason she has stayed relevant in the scheme of things in the country, staying on top of her game with blistering performance all-year round.

    Hajia Shagaya, despite her catholic taste, has her hands in many pies, all of which have given her fame and wealth. She works round the clock to maintain her business empire. More reason it’s no longer news that she traverses the world, making contacts and breaking new grounds. Interestingly, the Kwara State-born billionaire does not love to do things in half measure. She goes all out anytime she is hosting any soiree.

    She is fond of employing the best of event planners and also her sense of hospitality is second to none.

    Read Also: APC kickstarts electronic membership registration process

    Her 60th birthday years ago showed how powerful and highly wired she was. She pulled the top personalities in the country. From captains of industries, socialites, business moguls to traditional rulers.

    She is set to host friends and associates as one of her sons, Muktar Tolani Shagaya, a member of the Federal House of Representatives representing Ilorin West/ Asa Federal Constituency, ties the nuptial knot with his long-time heartthrob, Ayotola Odebiyi, at a traditional ceremony billed to Lagos on July 6.

    The train will also move to Abuja on July 12 for a reception.

    According to sources, Hajia Shagaya is not sparing any cost to make the wedding memorable.

    It was also gathered that she has invited the best event planners, food and drink vendors, top Juju artistes and others for the event which whoever attends will not forget in a hurry.

    The event promises to be the talk of the town wedding.

  • Patience Jonathan’s ally Shagaya’s account lawfully frozen, says EFCC

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has told the Federal High Court in Lagos that it lawfully froze the account of a businesswoman and socialite, Hajiya Bola Shagaya.

    It prayed the court to dismiss her application seeking to unfreeze it.

    Besides, EFCC said Shagaya, an ally of ex-First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan, allegedly frustrated its efforts to conclude investigations on a suspicious Unity Bank account with a balance of over N1.9billion.

    The commission said it invited the woman but she refused to honour it.

    This, EFCC said, made it difficult “to conclude investigation and file a charge against her.”

    An operative, Oghare Ogbole, in a counter-affidavit opposing Shagaya’s suit, justified the No Debit Order placed on the account.

    Justice Muslim Hassan made the interim freezing order on December 29, 2016.

    The businesswoman filed an application urging the judge to vacate it.

    She said she was denied fair hearing.

    But, EFCC claimed that the N1.9billion found in the Unity Bank account was the balance of a total of N3,305,150,000, which Shagaya received as “founder fees” on behalf of an organisation, “Women for Change” being spearheaded by Mrs Jonathan.

    The EFCC claimed that the N3.3billion was realised through Shagaya’s “fraudulent activities in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation,” where she allegedly “influenced the fraudulent allocation of Dual Purpose kerosene to Index Petrolube Africa Ltd., with the aid of the former First Lady, Mrs Dame Patience Jonathan.”

    According to the EFCC, the N3.3billion was paid by Index Petrolube Africa Ltd and its sister company, Autodex Nigeria Limited.

    The two companies, it said, belong to one Honourable Ezeani ThankGod, adding that the reason for the N3.3bn payment was to “fraudulently facilitate Dual Purpose Kerosene to ThankGod’s company, Index Petrolube Africa Ltd.”

    The anti-graft agency claimed that out of the N3.3bn, Shagaya had “paid a cumulative sum of N1,212,000,000 to the former First Lady, Mrs Dame Patience Jonathan, through her account, ‘Women for Change Initiative’ account domiciled in Diamond Bank, to which the former First Lady is the sole signatory.”

    It said after paying N1.2billion to Patience, Shagaya kept the balance of N1.9bn for herself by “warehousing” same in her personal bank account in Unity Bank.

    The EFCC said it was on this basis that it secured an order of Justice Muslim Hassan of the Federal High Court in Lagos on December 29, 2016 to freeze the account.

  • Between Patience Jonathan and Bola Shagaya

    In the Nigerian celebrity scene where friendships spring up like summer flowers when power is acquired, they wither and die like winter leaves when it is lost. Lasting friends, like lasting foes, are a rarity: power is the only constant phenomenon that attracts everyone.

    However, the friendship between former first lady Patience Jonathan and wealthy businesswoman Hajia Bola Shagaya is like an evergreen tree producing fresh green leaves the year round. During Patience’s glory days as the number one woman in the land, the two struck up a fast friendship and were seen doing buddy-buddy up and down the country.

    Many expected the Ilorin-born business magnate Bola, who presides over Bolmus Group International, a diversified Nigerian conglomerate with interests in oil, real estate, banking, communications and photography, to abandon her friend for ‘greener pastures’ after the 2015 elections, but the reverse has been the case. Through rain and sunshine, the duo have remained on the best of terms, even with threats of investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    This was most apparent at the lavish wedding of the daughter of former head of state, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida’s wedding in Minna, Niger State, last week. The two were as inseparable as conjoined twins as they laughed and bantered with each other.

  • Bola Shagaya to mark 57th birthday in unusual fashion

    Bola Shagaya to mark 57th birthday in unusual fashion

    Hajia Bola Shagaya is one woman who recognises the fact that there is a time for everything and adjusts her plans accordingly. The beautiful and widely respected woman is scheduled to mark her 57th birthday on October 10. But rather than break the bank and throw a lavish party like many of her peers, there are words to the effect that she intends to mark it in a low-key fashion.

    The day would mainly involve wining and dining with her family members and close associates in a quiet environment while she reminisces on her journey through life. The businesswoman, whose interests span banking, photography, oil, laboratory materials and property management, also intends to mark her new age with the less privileged by visiting orphanages and provide succour for those who lack comfort.

    In the recent past, she would prefer the glamour and glitterati of a society party. But the influential boss of PRACTOIL has since altered her priorities about life.

  • For Bola Shagaya, It’s no longer politics as usual

    Hajia Bola Shagaya is nationally celebrated as a successful Nigerian businesswoman and fashion enthusiast. Not only is she one of the richest women in Africa, she wines and dines with the movers and shakers in the continent. However, when news emerged that the diamond loving woman would be diving into the murky waters of politics to test the degree of her prominence by contesting as a gubernatorial aspirant in Kwara State during the last general elections, many showed their disapproval, while others received the news with bated breaths.

    But contrary to the widely circulated rumour, which created some tensions in the corridors of power, Shagaya did not contest.

    However, Shagaya was not a passive participant in the last election; she was among the most powerful women behind the then ruling party, PDP. After her party was defeated, she embraced silence and steered clear of the media. Now, report has it that Shagaya may have totally shunned politics, leaving it for the real politicians. She is no longer regular in Ilorin, unlike early last year when she was the most powerful woman in politics in Kwara State as a result of her connections in the corridors of power. Hajia Shagaya, who is the closest ally to former Nigeria first lady, Patience Goodluck Jonathan, has now concentrated on oil and gas business.

  • Patience Jonathan, Bola Shagaya still inseparable

    Patience Jonathan, Bola Shagaya still inseparable

    Genuine friendship would survive any dispute or competition while true partnership would provide strength in times of trouble and confusion. It takes a man of a brave heart and unwavering allegiance to stand by a friend when the going gets tough and good times dissolve like ice in scorching sun.

    The friendship between Bola Shagaya and former Nigeria’s first lady, Patience Jonathan, is still waxing strong. The billionaire businesswoman seems determined to prove that true friendship exists in a realm where friendship and enmity does not last. Contrary to rumours that she has abandoned her close friend, Patience Jonathan, investigation revealed that the two remain as close as ever.

    Shagaya, an Ilorin-born businesswoman remains one of the few women that are still standing by Patience Jonathan since her husband, Goodluck Jonathan, lost the presidential election. Not a few had thought that Shagaya was in the relationship for money and influence when the duo became friends at the dawn of Jonathan’s emergence as Vice-President after the 2007 general election.

    Their friendship was allegedly frowned upon by the then first lady of Nigeria, Turai Yar’ Adua, but the latter’s efforts to drive them apart were futile.  To their credit, the two have remained inseparable in spite of their differences in terms of age, tribe and religion.

  • Bola Shagaya pampers self with private jet

    Bola Shagaya pampers self with private jet

    AS the 55th birthday celebration of the businesswoman and fashion enthusiast, Bola Shagaya, gathers momentum, the Kwara State-born woman of means has spoiled herself with a Gulf Stream G650 aircraft valued at $65m. Hajia Shagaya (MON) was born on the 10th of October 1959. Though she hails from Ilorin, Kwara State, she resides and conducts her businesses which span banking, oil and gas, principally, in Lagos.

    Despite the ‘toy’, Shagaya, we gathered, will have a modest birthday party with family members.

  • Bola Shagaya not keen on governorship

    Bola Shagaya not keen on governorship

    When the news came from the blue that one of Nigeria’s wealthiest women, Hajia Bola Shagaya, would be testing her popularity as a governorship aspirant in Kwara State in 2015, not a few people expressed surprise. Permutations and analyses of her chance in the race immediately attended the report.

    But contrary to the widely circulated rumour, which was said to have caused a stir in some quarters , Celeb Watch has authoritatively gathered that the billionaire businesswoman would not be throwing her hat in the ring. Shagaya is said not to be keen on neglecting the business through which she rakes in the billions for any other vocation, particularly politics.

    A source close to her said her name was only being bandied by some politicians who are desperate to make some political gains with her name. One of her close friends said although she (Shagaya) is the leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kwara State, she will not be vying for any elective office in 2015. The friend said Shagaya had accepted her role as care giver in the ruling party and that is all she would be doing for the party’s candidates in 2015.

  • Bola Shagaya, Onyeka Onwenu defend First Lady

    Bola Shagaya, Onyeka Onwenu defend First Lady

    Millions of Nigerians may have expressed their disappointment at the wobbly English spoken by the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, in respect of the abducted pupils of Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, but not so for her coterie of friends led by billionaire businesswoman, Hajia Bola Shagaya.

    Bola Shagaya was said to have been enraged by the taunts that have since been directed at the First Lady on the social media and elsewhere, expressing shock and disappointment at the fact that the First Lady’s traducers would not see beyond an issue as ephemeral as lack of finesse in the First Lady’s spoken English. She believes the woman should rather be praised for the empathy she showed by weeping uncontrollably for the missing kids.

    A few days ago, Onyeka Onwenu, popular female musician who was recently appointed the Director-General of the National Centre for Women Development, was on a TV programme to defend Patience Jonathan and demonstrate her support for the First Lady. “I have never met anyone as down to earth as the First Lady… She has a wonderful heart… We ought to thank her,” she said.