With the announcement of Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the president-elect by Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, there is no doubt that one will be begin to witness an avalanche of political pettifoggers and hangers-on, some of whom will want to thrive off their relationship with the president-elect and others who will find corruption loopholes to thrive on. The former tend to assume larger-than-life images. Sometimes they wield enormous powers and recognition more than political appointees or elected office holders. Gilbert Chagoury, Wale Tinubu, Wale Edun, Jack Rich-Tein, Yemi Cardoso, among several others, are in this category.
A Lebanese migrant born in Nigeria, Gilbert Chagoury has spent the past 40 years building political connections both in Nigeria and the United States despite not being a politician himself. He flourished in the 1990s through his close association with the late Sani Abacha. In 2000, he was convicted by a Swiss court for laundering some of the funds Abacha looted from Nigeria. He agreed to pay a fine of about 1 million Swiss francs (about $600,000) at that time to get his Swiss conviction expunged and handed back $66 million to the Nigerian Government but denied knowing the funds were stolen.
He currently lives in Paris after allegedly falling out of favour with President Muhammadu Buhari’s government for allegedly bankrolling former President Goodluck Jonathan’s election campaign in 2015. He initially made the US his abode. His younger brother, Ronald takes charge in Nigeria on his behalf.
Now with Tinubu in the saddle, the soon-to-be 77-year-old Gilbert, whose tentacles spreads across some of the most viable sectors of Nigeria’s economy, such as the Eko Hotel & Suites, HITECH Construction Company, (responsible for 60 percent road construction in Lagos), Eko Atlantic City, ITB Construction Ltd among several others through his multibillion-dollar Chagoury Group of Companies, is well positioned to benefit from his long-standing relationship.
Olawale Adebayo Edun, a former Commissioner for Finance in Tinubu’s cabinet, during the latter’s time as Governor of Lagos State, is a notable and trusted ally of Tinubu. Like many other acolytes of the President-elect, he was recommended for a position in the Muhammadu Buhari Administration as part of a payback scheme for riding on Tinubu’s political machinery to power, but Buhari refused to give him any position. Now that his godfather will be at the helm of affairs, the seasoned banker will undoubtedly be one of the earliest beneficiaries of a Tinubu presidency. There is quite a number of governmental roles to choose from where he will be expected to carry out his master’s bidding, using his over 25 years experience, which spans merchant banking, corporate finance, economics and international finance at national and international levels, while also building on his influence.
From the Ministry of Finance to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) etc., the options for Edun are there for the asking. Edun is currently the Chairman of Chapel Hill Denham Group and has been since 2008.
Adewale Tinubu who is a relative of the president-elect, a nephew to be precise, is a co-founder and the current Group Chief Executive, GCE of Oando Plc, one of Africa’s largest integrated energy solutions providers. In 2000, Ocean and Oil, a private investment company led by Wale alongside his co-founders, Omamofe Boyo and Onajite Okoloko, acquired a 30 per cent controlling interest in Unipetrol Plc. In 2001, the firm increased its stake in Unipetrol to 42 per cent via an irredeemable convertible loan stock issue. Insiders claim that Wale’s uncle allegedly made these acquisitions possible as a silent investor.
Having played extensively for over 25 years in the oil and gas industry, who better to pick to likely head any of the oil and gas regulatory agencies such as Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), National Petroleum Investment Management Oil Field Services Companies (NAPIMS), Nigerian Content Division (NCD), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) or even the big cat itself, the petroleum ministry, than Wale who not only has the ears and eyes of his uncle but can be well trusted?
Yemi Cardoso was a former Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget when Tinubu was governor of Lagos State. He alongside Edun and Tanimu Yakubu Kurfi, a former chief economic adviser to late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, were tasked by Tinubu with developing the economic blueprint for Muhammadu Buhari during his time on the campaign trail to becoming the president.
A thoroughbred private sector man, who spent virtually his whole career in banking, Cardoso has been a close associate of Tinubu for as long as anyone can remember and was once in the running to be his deputy governor but he allegedly turned down the offer because he preferred the quieter life of the private sector. With Tinubu as president-elect and with talks ‘national interest,’ ‘service to motherland’ being used to cajole him out of his sedentary life, Cardoso will likely play an important role in the finance sector.
Tein Teinbo Seliyefubara Jack-Rich, a wealthy businessman and politician, Tein Jack-Rich as he is fondly called, was a presidential aspirant in the All Progressives Congress Primaries that produced the now president-elect as winner. Ironically, despite being in the race with him, Tein and his wife, Elizabeth Jack-Rich, were named the highest-ranking Members of the APC Presidential Campaign Council from Rivers state after the primaries. Shortly after, Tinubu and his team paid him a visit and not long after that, he was appointed the Deputy Director of the PCC Fundraising Committee.
Tein has also been seen having very crucial meetings with Seyi, the son of the president-elect. It is therefore safe to say that he will be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the Tinubu administration. A philanthropist of note, Tein is the President/Founder of Belemaoil Producing Limited, an indigenous oil Exploration Company in Nigeria.
Seyi Tinubu, one of the sons of Tinubu, is not only a silent operator who made some behind the scenes moves crucial to the emergence of his father as president-elect, Seyi has now emerged as a power broker of some sort. The young man who has since reconciled with Layal, his wife and mother of two of his children following his father’s political win, has successfully established himself as the connecting door between those who are already seeking all kinds of favour with the incoming administration and his father. Because he has the eyes and ears of his father, anyone who refuses to acknowledge his influence will be doing so at their own peril. Seyi who prides himself as a philanthropist is the founder/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Loatsad Promomedia LTD, an outdoor advertising company.
Ivory Ukonu is a versatile journalist with many years of experience, with entertainment and society reporting as her area of core competence.
