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Adebo Ogundoyin: Anger Over Mum’s Alleged Domineering Influence On 33yr Old Oyo Speaker As He Survives Impeachment Plot

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The very young but thriving political career of 33yr-old Speaker of the Oyo state House of Assembly, Rt. Hon Adebo Ogundoyin is currently facing a tough test. The battles he had been fighting in the background got to a peak about 2 weeks ago, when reports of his escaping an impeachment plot hit the media. Chief among the threats to his well-being politically also, is the allegation of his mum’s domineering influence on him, which a lot of his political party (PDP) have issues with.
The speaker is the son of Chief (Mrs) Tina Ogundoyin, ever-beautiful wife of late billionaire and philanthropist from Eruwa, Oyo State, Chief Adeseun Ogundoyin who died in 1991. The popular woman ruled the Ibadan social scene some years back (especially in the 90s and 200s), but as the years grew further, she stepped off from the stage. She reduced her frequent appearance on the social scene, and many wondered what could have been happening to her.

However, Tina (fondly called Queen of Sheba back in the days), was to stage a strong and unprecedented comeback to the scene last year, when her son, Adebo against expectations emerged the speaker just less than a year into his political sojourn. This time around, she is no longer just a society woman, but a politician with influence. Interestingly, she was in politics from the early parts of her life. We learned she even met the Speaker’s dad at a political function

Hon. Speaker Ogundoyin and Family

Although Tina is now aging gracefully, having clocked 60 in February, she still got her presence intact. She is the type to notice and her interest in the center stage of the society is still intact. This however, has gotten her clashing with other political interests in the state. And this, expectedly, is taking a toll on his son’s political career, that is barely 2 years old.

Our sources in Oyo state alleged that a powerful bloc in the ruling party in the state has been unhappy with Tina’s alleged dominating influence. Their grouse is their inability to trade political business with the Speaker without his mum’s input. This group, we heard, has a robust relationship with the state Governor, Seyi Makinde. A source loyal to the group told us under anonymity that the Speaker’s mum had to approve any decision to be made by the speaker on all issues.

“The Speaker’s mum must know about and approve any political meeting that has to do with his son, including the ones she couldn’t attend personally. Where is that done? People voted for his son and not her. And now, she has suddenly turned herself to the political leader of her son’s constituency and a major stakeholder at the state level. Where was Tina Ogundoyin prior to 2018? Did she even know how the party survived until that point? our source queried.

Meanwhile, the impeachment scare a fortnight ago was not a ruse, the source revealed. He confirmed that acrimony had been rocking the house under Hon. Adebo Ogundoyin’s leadership for some months now. The members of the house who were part of the plot queried Ogundoyin’s ability to lead a strong assembly capable of making each member record achievements. They are rooting for the Deputy Speaker, Abiodun Mohammed Fadeyi (Ona-Ara State Constituency), who enjoys support from the governor, to replace Adebo.

Meanwhile, reports said it took the timely intervention of a former Governor of the state, Rashidi Ladoja to quell the plot. He was said to have intervened by reaching out to the Governor to avoid the PDP-led government sliding into crises after just one year in office. Ladoja and the Speaker’s mum are close. He was even said to have single-handedly worked the PDP assembly ticket for her son during the by-election of 2018 that first brought him to the house following the death of the former speaker.

Chief Mrs. Justina Iyabo Ogundoyin is a successful businesswoman. She is a Princess from the Anyakudo royal family lineage of Orlu Local Government in Imo State. She is the fourth and last wife to late Chief Adeseun Ogundoyin,( a billionaire businessman from Eruwa, in Ibarapa East Local Government of Oyo state) whom she had three sons and a daughter for. Adebo is the second child of his mother. At 33, the Speaker is not married but is believed to have a relationship bound for the alter. Her mum also weighs a big influence on his marital plans, we also gathered.

 

 

Society

Oniru confers chieftaincy titles on Smith, Idowu, Olorunnimbe, Akintoye others

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The Oniru of Iru-land, His Royal Majesty Oba Abdul-Wasiu Omogbolahan Lawal CON [Abisogun II] has announced the conferment of honourary chieftaincy titles on eminent and distinguished citizens of Nigeria.

 

The revered monarch unveiled the shortlist of recipients as part of activities to mark the fifth anniversary of his peaceful reign on the revered throne.

 

Among the esteemed honourees are Iya Oba of Iru Kingdom – Chief (Mrs) Basira Titilayo Smith, Aare Majeobaje of Iru Kingdom – Chief Adeyemi Idowu, Aare So’ludero ofIru Kingdom- Chief Muyiwa Gbadegesin, Ph.D and Erelu Asa of Iru Kingdom – Chief (Mrs) Bolane Austen-Peters, Aare Fiwagboye of Iru Kingdom – Chief Lukman Olayiwola Mustapha, Asoju Oba of Iru Kingdom- Chief Idris Ibikunle Olorunnimbe and Ajiroba ofIru-Kingdom- Chief Adegboyega Hakeem Akintoye.

 

While extending congratulations to the distinguished honourees on behalf of His Majesty and the Oniru-in-Council, High Chief Abayomi Daramola, Balogun of Iru-Land, in a statement revealed that the conferment of titles will be performed on 14th June, 2025 at the palace (Aafin Oba Oniru), Victoria Island, Lagos.

 

The statement read in part, “to mark the fifth-year anniversary of his ascension to the revered throne of his forebears as the 15th Oniru of Iru-land and after a rigorous selection process, His Royal Majesty Oba Abdul-Wasiu Omogbolahan Lawal CON [Abisogun II] – The Oniru of Iru-land upon the recommendation of the Oniru-in-Council, has issued a Royal Decree approving the conferment of respective honouray Chieftaincy titles on the underlisted eminent and distinguished citizens.”

 

 

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‘Not My Property’ – Ex-Petroleum Minister, Diezani Exposes Owner Of Recovered $52.8 Million Loot

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Nigeria’s former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, has clarified that she is not connected to the $52.5 million that was recently brought back to the country from the United States of America (USA).

Society Reporters recalls that the federal government on Friday, January 10, announced the receipt of $52.88 million in recovered Galactica assets linked to the former Minister of Petroleum.

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, announced the recovery during a formal signing ceremony of the asset return agreement in Abuja.

Fagbemi explained that $50 million of the recovered funds would be channelled through the World Bank for the development of rural electrification projects.

The remaining $2.88 million, he added, would be allocated to the International Institute of Justice to enhance the justice system and support anti-corruption initiatives.

However, in a statement issued on Sunday, Diezani, who has been residing in the United Kingdom (UK) since departing from Nigeria, asserted that the funds associated with her in the media as illicit gains actually belonged to Nigeria’s oil entrepreneur, Kola Aluko.

Finally responding to the alleged recovery through her attorney, Mike Ozekhome SAN, Diezani maintained that the term “Diezani Loot” is unfounded, as she had no involvement in the circumstances surrounding the forfeiture of the funds by its rightful owner.

Expressing her stance, the former minister stated that the $52.5 million originated from a vessel that was confiscated by the American authorities from Kola Aluko, which was subsequently sold, with the proceeds returned to the Nigerian federal government.

Her disavowal of ownership over the funds was detailed in an extensive press release issued on Sunday by the Chambers of Mike Ozekhome SAN, titled “There is no such thing as Diezani Loot.”

The statement reads: “My chambers makes this intervention in the public domain as Solicitors to Diezani Alison-Madueke (DAM) ,the former Minister of Petroleum Resources, HMPR.

“As her Solicitors, we are fully versed in and conversant with her present ordeal and the entire facts surrounding her matters both here in Nigeria and abroad. So, we write from the vantage position of one that is aware of the cocktail of lies that have been spurned around her cases in the last ten years.

“Many of the narratives are outrightly false; some others sheer outlandish speculations; and most, simply bizzare stories cooked up by her traducers to extract a Shylock’s pound of flesh from her for reasons she does not know and cannot even fathom.

“This intervention therefore seeks to correct this skewed narrative and set the records straight for purposes of history. Many Nigerians often talk about wanting ‘technocrats’ to be involved in governance. They desire that people with character and integrity should join politics.

“We agree with them. However and regrettably too, now and again and many a time, the same people not only allow, but actually join the bandwagon to mob-lynch those who chose to serve the nation.

“And we often do this insidiously, covertly and overtly, even when there is no concrete or even any iota of proof that such public officers ever abused their offices or stole from public coffers.

“It is therefore surprising and of great concern to us, to see the level of sustained vilification of an innocent Nigerian citizen who has not yet been tried and found guilty of any offence known to law by any court of law whether in Nigeria or abroad. The person at the receiving end is Citizen Diezani Alison-Madueke (DAM).”

Mischievous And Cruel
The statement from Ozekhome’s office described the earlier claims about the asset recovery as misinformation and defaming.

It said: “We note with concern the recent deliberate attempt to link her with what has been described as a civil forfeiture of a yacht Galactica, the sale of which was said to have yielded $52.8m to the US government; which sum has since been repatriated to Nigeria.

This is a clear example of the mischievous and cruel sport of tarnishing the image of the lady through a bouquet of consistent, persistent and unrelenting cocktail of falsehoods and misinformation.

“The purveyors of this line of misinformation term it “name-and-shame”. To sell the storyline, the architects ensured they attached Diezani’s name to a recovered yacht which is not in any way linked to her.

“They now falsely termed it “Diezani loot”. Nothing of the sort ever happened. She was never involved in the purchase, use and sale of the said yacht.

“The yacht Galactica, from information readily available in the public domain and in open sources, was purchased by Mr Kola Aluko who had used the vessel until he agreed to its forfeiture to the United States of America.

“The yacht Galactica was neither owned nor ever used by our client. DAM has in fact never set her eyes on the yacht. Kola Aluko is an experienced businessman who had been in business well before DAM came into office as HMPR.

“The only tenuous basis for deliberately linking DAM to the said yacht is the false narrative that the Strategic Alliance Agreements (SAAs) which were entered into between Kola Aluko & Jide Omokore’s Atlantic Energy companies and NNPC, were allegedly corruptly awarded to the said companies by DAM. DAM was not the GMD of the NNPC as so did not and could not have awarded the said contracts.

“We plead, as her lawyers, with all and sundry that she be accorded fair hearing and that the process of these UK court proceedings be allowed to take their natural course to avoid prejudice to her in the ongoing subjudice UK proceedings against her.

”Those purveyors and peddlers who habitually spin these outrightly false, unfounded, defamatory, unintelligent and indefensible narratives to denigrate and humiliate her should please find better use of their time and leave DAM alone.

“Let the law take its natural course without interference. We humbly pray.”

 

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Bisi Onasanya, ex FirstBank MD flees Nigeria to Ghana as EFCC closes in……

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Bisi Onasanya, the embattled former Managing Director of FirstBank has followed in the steps of Oba Otudeko, the former chairman of FBN Holdings and fled the country.
Onasanya who is expected to appear at the Federal High Court in Lagos on Monday January 20 to answer to the charges brought against him by anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, may likely be absent in court as he is currently holed up in Ghana in hiding.

He was spotted at Movenpick Hotel in Accra where he checked in at exactly 8 am on Friday morning.

Society Reporters had earlier reported that Onasanya will be arraigned before Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke for looting over N12.3 billion.

He will be arraigned alongside Otudeko, also the chairman of Honeywell Group who is equally on the run, as well as two others, a former board member of Honeywell Group, Soji Akintayo and a firm, Anchorage Leisure Limited connected to Otudeko.

The quartet committed fraud in tranches of N5.2 billion, N6.2 billion, N6.150 billion, N1.5 billion and N500 million, N6.2 billion and N2.09 billion between 2013 and 2014 in Lagos.

The 13-count charge, filed by EFCC counsel Bilikisu Buhari on January 16, 2025, further claimed that the defendants made and uttered forged documents to deceive the bank.

Specifically, count 1 accused the defendants of conspiring “to obtain the sum of N12.3 billion from FirstBank Limited on the pretence that the said sum represented credit facilities applied for by V-TECH DYNAMIC LINKS LIMITED and Stallion Nigeria Limited, which representation you know to be false.”

In Count 2, it was alleged that the defendants, on or about the 26th day of November 2013 in Lagos, “obtained the sum of N5.2 Billion from FirstBank Limited on the pretence that the said sum represented credit facilities applied for by V TECH DYNAMIC LINKS LIMITED which representation you know to be false.”

The 3rd count claimed that the defendants, between 2013 and 2014 in Lagos, obtained N6.2 Billion from FirstBank Limited on the pretence that the said sum represented credit facilities applied for and disbursed to Stallion Nigeria Limited, which representation you know to be false.”

In the 4th count, they were accused of conspiring to spend the N6,15 billion, out of the monies.

According to the Commission, the offences contravened Section 8(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act 2006 and are punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.

Counts 5 and 6 read: “That you, CHIEF OBA OTUDEKO, STEPHEN OLABISI ONASANYA, SOJI AKINTAYO AND ANCHORAGE LEISURE LIMITED on or about 11th day of December 2013 in Lagos, procured Honeywell Flour Mills Plc to retain the sum of N1,5 Billion, which sum you reasonably ought to have known forms part of proceeds of your unlawful activities to wit: Obtaining by False Pretense and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18(c), 15 (2) (d) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended) and punishable under Section 15(3) of the same Act.

“That you, CHIEF OBA OTUDEKO, STEPHEN OLABISI ONASANYA, SOJI AKINTAYO, AND ANCHORAGE LEISURE LIMITED on or about the 17th day of December 2013 in Lagos, converted to the use of Honeywell Flour Mills Plc the sum of N500 million only which sum you reasonably ought to have known forms part of proceeds of your unlawful activities to wit: Obtaining by False Pretense and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 15(2 (b)) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended) and punishable under Section 15(3) of the same Act.”

“That you, CHIEF OBA OTUDEKO, STEPHEN OLABISI ONASANYA, SOJI AKINTAYO, AND ANCHORAGE LEISURE LIMITED on or about the 17th day of December 2013 in Lagos, converted to the use of Honeywell Flour Mills Plc the sum of N500 million only which sum you reasonably ought to have known forms part of proceeds of your unlawful activities to wit: Obtaining by False Pretense and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 15(2 (b)) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended) and punishable under Section 15(3) of the same Act.”

The Street Journal

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