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Son of Late Billionaire Chief Anthony Olujinmi Lawanson raises alarm over attempts on his life by his brother Former Commissioner of transport Lagos state Ladi Lawanson Over Their Late Fathers Assets

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3 years ago

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Gbolahan Lawanson is one of the Sons of Prominent Business Mogul Chief AO  l Lawanson.. Who died sometime in 1998. Apparently since the death of the Patriach their brother Ladi Lawanson, who became a commissioner under former Governor Ambode, had been stripping the family off its assets and selling at discount prices

 

Most of the family members did not realize what Ladi Lawanson was doing till his exposure by his younger brothers, Gbolahan Lawanson.

 

In his attempts to cover up the monumental stealing and in turn destroying the legacy their hard working father left behind, Ladi apparently acquired the services of AIG ADELEKE as an accomplice to achieve his selfish aims.

 

Seeing Gbolahan as the arrowhead to the opposition against his continuous looting he decided on a plan to arrange false petitions against him, so that the AIG ADELEKE can use to cage him while they both use their power to loot the family wealth dry.

Ladi Lawanson

We gathered reliably that recently at a family meeting chaired by their elder sister, Gbolahan Lawanson exposed the monumental stealing by Ladi that runs into over a billion naira. The entire family was shocked at the revelation. When the elder sister looked into the stripped assets, and this led to Ladi’s desperation to get rid of anyone blocking his way.

 

“At a Family meeting held on the 23rd of January 2022, by  siblings, post their Mother’s Funeral rites of January 21st, 2022, Gbolahan Lawanson was asked to render financial and other accounts of the family assets being managed directly by him. Which he duly gave accounts as advised and handed the assets in his possession to their elder Sister. Right there and then he noted that as part of the family assets, over three (3) acres of vast land worth the sum of N650million, company shares in various blue chip companies in their Late Father’s name, worth the sum of N250 million, the sum of N100 million lease rentals resulting from the lease of the family’s petrol station to Total Nigeria and the sum of N20 Million lease rentals resulting from the lease of the roof-top to the family’s property situated at No. 8 Lawanson Road, Lawanson, Surulere, Lagos, to Globacom Limited for construction of their communications mast,  are all unaccounted for and were directly handled by Ladi Lawanson (Ladi).  It was also indicated that Ladi should be asked to render accounts for these assets. From the day he (Ladi) was instructed to render the stated accounts, Ladi vowed to deal decisively with Gbolahanand use all the power he has and connection to get rid of him. He boasted that he has ‘friends’ in the police force and that he was going to have Gbolahan locked up and gotten rid of “ the source hinted.

 

A Family source who would like to be anonymous, claims that Ladi and Gbolahan became bitter enemies when Ladi tried to evict their late brothers Wife from their brothers home two months after the death of their elder brother Rotimi. This action infuriated Gbolahan who vehemently opposed Ladi’s action. It got so bad that when Gbolahan was contesting an election last year, his brother Ladi, was his fierce opponent. Who went as far as to team up with the opposing camp to fight against him.

 

These and other expose was what led to Gbolahan’s manhandling and illegal arrest by the AIG Adeleke, whom we gathered Ladi had used for his hatchet job to deal with Gbolahan as he had earlier boasted.

 

“We gathered that on the 24th of May, 2022, Gbolahan was invited to visit the office of the Assistant Inspector General of Police (A.I.G) Adeyinka Adeleke, on the pretext that the A.I.G. wanted to mediate between the two brothers (Ladi Lawanson & Gbolahan). The opposite was the case as we learnt that upon his  arrival to the A.I.G’s office in courteous compliance with the received invitation, he was confronted with over eight (8) people, with some of them being unknown to him, brandishing petitions against him.  The petitions had never been served prior to the invitation. These people included representatives of Globacom Limited, Vixen Enterprises and a lawyer representing Mr Akin Lawanson.

Akin Lawanson is late chief lawanson’s brother, who also has a questionable character with pending court cases of forgery of documents.  These people were all present at the A.I.G.’s office, alleging that Gbolahan threatened their lives, all of this as a game plan of Ladi.

Without listening to Gbolahan’s side of the story, The A.I.G Adeleke looked at him directly and said ‘I WILL DEAL WITH YOU AND TEACH YOU A LESSON’. He then ordered the Commander of the Monitoring Team to detain him with a “NO BAIL’ option. “I was there,  locked up in a cell at Zone 2 Police Quarters at Onikan, Lagos on the 24th of May, 2022, prevented from contacting my Lawyers neither was I allowed to inform my Wife of my whereabouts. I was held for 20 hours at the prison cell with no access to water nor food”. Gbolahan told us in a telephone conversation.

He said further that he was also taken to tinubu magistrate court paraded like a criminal, and this was Ladi’s mission to really deal with him if he had been remanded in the prison.

“On the morning of 25th May, 2022, I was driven to Tinubu Magistrate court by six (6) heavily armed policemen and paraded like a criminal. The intention of the police was for me to be further detained at the Ikoyi Prisons pending bail application. The case has been scheduled for hearing on June 20th, 2022”.

 

Speaking further, Gbolahan told this news medium that, “I also note that Ladi Lawanson had informed me directly that being a former Commissioner of Transport of Lagos State, he has acolytes everywhere.  In this regard, I submit that Ladi Lawanson acquired the services of A.I.G Adeyinka Adeleke and the instrumentality of the A.I.G.’s office to harass and detain me unlawfully”.

“I cannot be intimidated on my birthright neither would I let anybody disinherit my younger ones or anybody else in the family”

It is a situation that has united all of the Lawanson’s against Ladi, even though most of them were too young to oppose Ladi when their father died in 1998.

 

Gbolahan who is quite successful on his own right is known to be a people’s man and has a large grass roots following in Lawanson/Surulere environs .His popularity apparently is also a threat to his brother who is known to be a close ally to a top politician, which we gathered is the forces he has always lay claims on to deal with anyone that crosses his path.

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Society

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

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3 hours ago

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January 20, 2025

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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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Society

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

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16 hours ago

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January 20, 2025

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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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Society

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

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2 days ago

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January 18, 2025

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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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