The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, and the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Akeem Owoade.
The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, and the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Akeem Owoade.

Moses Olafare, the Spokesperson for Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi, has explained the reasons why the monarch will not react to the 48-hour threat by the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Abimbola Owoade, to reverse the title conferred on a popular Ibadan-based business mogul, Dotun Sanusi.

Olafare, in a Facebook post on Tuesday, disclosed that Oba Ogunwusi had particularly directed him to ignore the revered Oyo monarch.

According to him, the Ooni will not dignify what he described as “undignifyable” with an official response, stressing that he had left the matter to be handled in the public court of opinion.

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He wrote, “My principal has directed me against issuing a press release on the empty threat. I beg to disappoint you, gentlemen of the press.

“We can not dignify the undignifyable with an official response. We leave the matter to be handled in the public court of opinion, as it is already being treated.

“Let’s rather focus on narratives that unite us rather than the ones capable of dividing us. No press release, please. 48 hours my foot!”

The PUNCH reports that Oba Owoade described the Ooni’s action as an “affront” after he issued a 48-hour ultimatum for the revocation of the chieftaincy title.

He also claimed it was a direct challenge to his authority.

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The Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Abimbola Akeem Owoade, has given the Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi, a 48-hour ultimatum to revoke the Okanlomo of Yorubaland chieftaincy title recently conferred on Ibadan business tycoon, Engineer Dotun Sanusi.

In a statement on Monday signed by his Director of Media and Publicity, Bode Durojaiye, the Alaafin described the Ooni’s action as an “affront.”

He also claimed it was a direct challenge to his authority.

The Alaafin reiterated that he holds the exclusive right to bestow titles that cover the entire Yorubaland.

“The conferment of a Yoruba-wide chieftaincy title by the Ooni is not only ultra vires but an insult to the Titan of Yorubaland.

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“The Supreme Court itself has ruled that only the Alaafin has such authority. Yet, the Ooni continues to act above the law, trampling on both tradition and the courts.”

The Alaafin warned that if the Ooni fails to withdraw the title within 48 hours, “consequences will follow.”

Recall in 1991, a similar occurrence happened when the late Alaafin, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, wrote to the military governor of Oyo State, Colonel Abdulkareem Adisa, to inform him about an aberration by the late Ooni, Oba Okunade Sijuade, of conferring an imaginary chieftaincy title of Akinrogun of Yorubaland on the National Chairman of the National Republican Convention, Chief Tom Ikimi.

Oba Adeyemi described Oba Sijuade’s action as an outright desecration of the sacred institution, especially when such abuses come from quarters that are expected to protect and embellish such institutions.
(PUNCH)

Billionaire Femi Otedola has revealed his journey to building a multi-billion-dollar empire began without a university degree or even a completed high school education.

In his newly released memoir titled ‘Making It Big’, cited by The PUNCH on Tuesday, the 62-year-old energy mogul shares how his academic struggles led him to abandon formal education and dive into the world of business, where he ultimately found his calling.

In the 286-page book, Otedola recounts his early years at the University of Lagos Staff School, starting at the age of six in 1968, and notes that despite being classmates with notable figures like Kola Abiola, son of the late business magnate Moshood Abiola, he struggled academically.

“Academia and I were not compatible,” he writes, noting that he repeated a class and consistently ranked at the bottom of his class, sparking his pivot toward a different path.

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“I finished primary school in 1974 because I repeated a class. Even when I was allowed to pass, I consistently anchored the bottom rungs of our end-of-term examination results. My interests were definitely not in academia,” he added.

He noted that after finishing primary school, he proceeded to Methodist Boys’ High School, Lagos, even as his academic struggles continued.

“The school had been founded almost a hundred years earlier, in 1878. Alumni include grand names in Nigerian history: Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe, Mobolaji Johnson, Ola Rotimi, Fola Adeola, Olusegun Osoba, and Hezekiah Oladipo Davies. When I joined the student body in 1974, the principal was D. A. Famoroti, who’d taken up the post in 1963 and would leave in 1980,” he recalls. “I started Form 1 at age 12 and was there for three years,” he said.

He pointed out that in 1977, after it became clear that his performance was not improving, his parents transferred him to Olivet Baptist High School, Oyo, a boarding school founded by Southern Baptist missionaries in 1945.

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“My parents’ thinking was that all my siblings were boarders, and they seemed to be doing well,” Mr Otedola writes. “They thought this change would help turn around my attitude towards academia, but nothing changed.

“I started in Form 3 at Olivet, and as I rounded off the first year of my A Levels, my father was establishing his printing company, Impact Press, in Surulere, a residential and commercial district in Lagos State. I grew fascinated with the machines and told myself that my future would be inextricably tied to them. I managed to remain in school until the Lower Sixth examination was over. And then, I was finished; I never returned for my Upper Sixth.

“All I wanted to do was get involved in business. My father kept watch over me and drew me close. My sister taught me shorthand. I knew how to type and began typing letters for my dad. I prepared all his business correspondence. I was fascinated by the way printing machines treat paper. The white paper is placed on one end, the ink and plates are fixed, and the printed material comes out of the other end. It was captivating,” he stressed.

Despite his mother’s protests and tears, Otedola abandoned school to work full-time in his father’s printing business. He rose quickly, becoming managing director of Impact Press in 1987 at the age of 25.

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“However, I soon became restless. I had immersed myself in all aspects of the business and learned the ropes at my dad’s right hand. I certainly enjoyed the job more than grappling with the Pythagoras theorem and struggling through homework at Olivet. As time went by, though, I also thought it was time for a measure of independence from my dad.

“I still wanted to work for him — I really enjoyed hearing the rumbling of machines and savouring the smell of freshly printed material — but I also wanted to do things differently. I told him I wanted to become a sales consultant for the press, and he agreed. He said he would pay me a commission of 10–15% on any work I brought in.

“That was a significant break for me. I invested my money in buying cars for sales and marketing outreach and moved on to the next phase in my nascent professional life.”

With his new role, he began bringing in jobs from major companies and advertising agencies, particularly in calendars and diaries.

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“We could hardly keep up with the demand. Our unique selling point was quality, thanks to the state-of-the-art machines we owned. We were also always on time with job delivery. We were engaged in healthy competition with Academy Press, a company located in the Ilupeju area of Lagos.

“I served as my dad’s sales exec up until 1991, when he started his Lagos State gubernatorial campaign. It was a run for office — ultimately successful — that I had initiated.”

According to him, the break in his family business gave him the confidence and foundation to strike out on his own. In 1994, he founded Centre Force Ltd. with ₦10 million in starting capital.

“From those beginnings, he built a vast business empire in oil and gas, shipping, real estate, finance, and philanthropy. He went on to chair Forte Oil, invested in power through Geregu Power Plc, and today chairs the board of FirstHoldco Plc, one of Nigeria’s largest financial groups.

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The businessman’s disclosure of his educational history may come as a surprise to many who long believed he was a university graduate. At one point, his Wikipedia page even suggested he studied at the University of Lagos.

But in “Making It Big”, Mr Otedola insists his true classroom was not a lecture hall but the business floor. His lessons, he says, came from watching his father, trusting his instincts, and learning from both failures and triumphs.

“I never returned for my Upper Sixth. All I wanted was to get involved in business,” he writes. That decision, once a source of his mother’s tears, would lay the foundation for a career that has made him one of Africa’s most influential businesspersons.

In the end, Mr Otedola’s memoir delivers a striking message: formal education may have eluded him, but discipline, persistence, and the hunger to build made him — in his own words — “make it big.”

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has highlighted key facts Nigerians need to know about procurement fraud, describing it as one of the biggest threats to accountability in the country.

In an awareness post on its official X account on Tuesday, the commission recalled that its Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, had said in January 2025 that “procurement and contract fraud accounted for more than 90 per cent of Nigeria’s corruption and fraud issues.”

Procurement fraud refers to the intentional manipulation or deception in the procurement process to obtain personal or organisational benefits, often at the expense of others.

The anti-graft agency explained that the crime takes different forms, including:

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Bid rigging – colluding to predetermine bid winners.

Bribery – offering or accepting inducements to influence decisions.

Kick-backs – receiving payments for favourable treatment.

Over-invoicing – inflating prices or quantities.

Product substitution – delivering inferior goods against contract terms.

“Procurement fraud can occur in various industries, including government contracting, construction, and private sector purchasing.

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“It can lead to financial losses, undermine trust, and damage reputations,” the EFCC stated.

The commission warned that offenders risk stiff penalties under the Public Procurement Act (2007).

Section 58 of the law prescribes “a term of imprisonment not less than five calendar years but not exceeding 10 calendar years without an option of fine.”

It added that corrupt procurement officers face dismissal and jail terms, while companies may be barred from public contracts for not less than five years and fined up to 25 per cent of the value of the fraudulent deal.

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To illustrate its point, the EFCC cited the conviction of Chandra Singh, an Indian businessman, who was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment for procurement fraud involving N816 million.

“Delivering judgment on Thursday, February 27, 2025, Justice Ijelu found him guilty as charged and sentenced him to 10 years without an option of fine.

“He was also ordered to make restitution of N345 million to his victim,” the statement read.

The commission urged Nigerians to be vigilant and resist attempts to manipulate contract processes.

“The fight against procurement fraud is a fight to safeguard public resources, promote fairness, and strengthen national development,” it added.