Billionaires’ Beef: Why Olatunde Ayeni Is After Captain Hosa Okunbo

FUNSHO AROGUNDADE

Indeed, life is an irony. It is hard to grasp that from a heart that arbors the deepest desires often comes the deadliest hate. This iconic Socrates quote would best illustrate the recent happenings between two Nigerian billionaires and erstwhile friends— Captain Idahosa Wells Okunbo and Dr John Olatunde Ayeni.

Despite the ten-year age and ethnic difference, Captain Okunbo, the billionaire philanthropist and businessman behind Ocean Marine Solutions Limited, (OMSL), and Ayeni, former chairman of Skye Bank Plc (now Polaris Bank), were like two peas in a pod. The two men were inseparable. They both rocked the socio-political and economic scenes like emperors as well rocked parties together. Before now, theirs was the kind of friendship many would say was made in heaven and consecrated here on earth.

Going by reports from their two privileged camps, the bond that existed between Okunbo and Ayeni may have snapped irredeemably, confirming to the world that indeed, there is a thin line between love and hate.

The two friends are about to be torn apart by utter disrespect for the sanctity of friendship and, by extension, polarized the elite class. The bone of contention is the claims by Ayeni that he remains a shareholder of OMSL despite documentary evidence showing he sold his shares in 2018.

Incorporated in 2008 by Okunbo, OMSL, a leading asset protection company dedicated to protecting Nigeria’s natural resources from graft and illegal activities, is also a foremost player in the global maritime industry.

Okunbo, perhaps in a bid to expand his company’s operations, invited Ayeni on board and he reportedly snapped up about 35 percent stake. But a source close to the two billionaires told P.M.EXPRESS that Ayeni, at the highpoint of his controversial ouster from defunct Skye Bank, allegedly approached Okunbo that he would like to sell off his shares in OMSL and cease to be a director of the company.

After much effort to make him change his mind failed, documents show that Ayeni, using his company, Prime Union Investment Limited, specifically on August 15, 2018, agreed to sell his shares including the 175,000,000 ordinary shares in GYRO (and the 50, 000,000 shares held by his wife, Abiola Ayeni) to Wells Property Development Company Limited for the total sum of N2 billion.

Not quite long after, a crack was noticed in their once chummy relationship. For a very long time, the two men prevailed upon not to go at each other’s jugular by friends and family members who made every effort possible to reconcile them. 

PMEXPRESS gathered that in the first week of November last year, Okunbo reached out to Ayeni, and requested for a sitting with his lawyers to address some pending issues between them. Perhaps, the meeting would have afforded them the opportunity to address other concerns with respect to the OMSL, one of Okunbo’s major going concerns in which Ayeni had divested his interest over two years ago.

According to sources, to underscore his concern and intention, Okunbo was said to have sent a message from his hospital bed in London to Ayeni appealing to him to please work with the team he had appointed to handle the peaceful transition, amicably.

But Ayeni, it was learnt, didn’t bother to dignify his friend with a decent response let alone show that he too wanted a seamless transition. What followed was Ayeni firing a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC with strong allegations made against Okunbo including alleged mismanagement, stealing and diversion of funds from OMSL.

Ayeni, in the petition written by his counsel, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN) claimed that Okunbo tried to scheme him out of the company in which he had since 2018 allegedly divested his interests.

Notwithstanding calls to both men, the Kogi State-born businessman has remained unswerving on his plots to play the victim, whereas incontrovertible evidence shows the exact opposite. And in the last one week, both traditional and social media spaces have equally been awash with different tell-it-all tales.

Most of their friends were stunned that Ayeni, at a time like this, could launch a blitzkrieg on his erstwhile buddy who is down in the dumps and currently battling a life-threatening illness in a London Hospital while claiming that he is still a shareholder in the company.

But to some observers, interpretations deductible from Ayeni’s actions suggest that he is probably trying to take over Okunbo’s business investments, thinking the Edo State-born retired commercial pilot might not survive his current health challenge.

Aside Mr. Augustine Alegeh (SAN), a former President of the Nigeria Bar Association and Counsel to Okunbo, who has come out to state clearly that Ayeni is being unnecessarily belligerent and outlandish in his claims, the ailing billionaire was also confident that since facts supported by documents don’t lie, then, Ayeni and his cohort are as well welcome to the party.