The Bull in the Villa

Lanre Alfred looks at the pomp and ceremony with which Chairman of Globacom, Dr. Mike Adenuga Jr’s visited the Presidential Villa in Abuja last Friday and the economic implications of the visit

The corridors are still bursting at the seams with the crowded promise of his visit. The villa grounds too. Since Dr. Mike Adenuga Jr’s courtesy call at the Presidential Villa in Aso Rock, Abuja, a lot has been said and predicted about his visit.

 Such is the anticipation that heralds and succeeds his public appearances. Indeed, the Chairman of Globacom, like the rarest of his ilk commands the attention and patronage of the political class – listening senates and the presidency.

Like the proverbial titan who walks across his century and leaves the marks of his feet all over it, Adenuga rips out the entanglements on his galoshes as he traverses.

There is something about the entrepreneur extraordinaire; his charm strikes the sight, but his merit wins the soul. Ultimately he leaves you reeling under his spell.

Every thought and every deed of the trillionaire magnate resonate with a thrill that’s almost magical. It is!  Thus you may be right to mistake him for a magician. 

But unlike the proverbial illusionist, Adenuga lives to fulfill the promise that something torn to bits might be mended with a seam, that what had vanished might reappear if summoned by honest efforts, and that a scattered handful of doves or dust might be reunited by a humane word.

Interestingly, beneath the earnest smiles and photo ops, however, there was a heartfelt exchange of regard between Dr Adenuga Jr  and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the former’s visit. Each man looks like he had done very well out of the odds.

Between them subsists a bond of mutual respect but the Globacom understands the import of his host’s office and the magnitude of the task before him thus his undisguised deference to his agency and persona.

But for his unanticipated presence at the palace of the Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona, when President Tinubu visited a few weeks earlier, Dr Adenuga would stay incognito even as his enterprise and charitable work continually pronounce his worth to the world.

On Friday, August 4, President Tinubu hosted the Globacom chairman cum Nigeria’s richest man , whose measured public appearances has always been a subject of fervent debate in social and political circuits, in Aso Rock. It was indeed a rare outing for the trillionaire magnate who dreads being in the spotlight.

However, the essence of their meeting has yet to be ascertained. Still, there are indications that it is a courtesy visit, or both men held conversations about a possible collaboration to boost the economy of Nigeria.

At Adenuga’s arrival in Aso Villa, a whirlwind of curiosity blew through the castle, stamping his essence into the minds and consciousness of everyone present. “The big kahuna is here,” the walls seemed to say.

Until his recent public appearances, Adenuga maintained the aura of a reclusive trillionaire who would rather be heard and have his presence felt than be seen.

A cloak of mystery enshrouded his persona, his accomplishments and his philanthropy. In recent years, there had been conjectures and speculations as to why he has completely shunned public outings, not that he was ever a social butterfly even as a younger man with all the appurtenances of fame and fortune at his beck and call. Being unobtrusive and unseen had been his style since he worked his way to the pinnacle of prominence and prosperity.

His appearance with President Tinubu in Ijebu and subsequently in Aso Villa elicited wonderment and gasps. Spotting a greying but well-trimmed beard, Dr Adenuga cut a portrait of good health and well-being in his bespoke native agbada ensemble.

He wore his trademark toothy smile as he hobnobbed with Mr President in the Aso Villa. It would be recalled that, few weeks ago, President Tinubu, commended Adenuga for his unwavering commitment to nation-building. Tinubu used the occasion of Adenuga’s 70th birthday to extend his felicitation to the business mogul for his many social and economic investments in Nigeria.

This was even as he described him as a ‘believer in the manifest destiny of Nigeria as a great country.’ In the congratulatory message issued on Saturday by his Media Officer, Tunde Rahman, the President-elect praised the Globacom owner’s business accomplishments in the telecommunications, oil, real estate and aviation sectors

According to him, the businessman democratised and revolutionised GSM telephony in Nigeria in 2003 with per-second billing at a time it was considered impossible to do so.

He said: “I congratulate Otunba Mike Adenuga on attaining 70. To reach the Biblical age of three scores and ten brings great joy to every human being and I thank God for making this great son of Nigeria and the world to reach the milestone in good health.

“Adenuga is a firm believer in the manifest destiny of Nigeria as a great country. This he has demonstrated with his continuous investments in our economy, creating thousands of jobs and wealth for our people through his many businesses.

“I wish him many more years in profound health to continue adding value to our country and humanity in general.”

Their meeting at the Awujale’s palace would be their first reunion since Mr. President celebrated Adenuga on his 70th birthday. Their meeting in Aso Villa on August 4, happens to be their second.