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Amb. Deinde Fernandez’s Daughter, Antoinette Speaks – “My Father was a Bold Adventurer, Savvy Businessman”

Published

3 years ago

April 17, 2021

Eric

Six years after the death of the great Billionaire, international businessman and diplomat, Amb. Deinde Fernandez, his family has not said a word about his life and times. But one of his daughters, UK-based Princess Antoinette, has decided to speak exclusively to The Boss and she extolled the virtues of her late dad and mother, Erelu of Lagos, Princess Abiola Dosunmi. Enjoy…

Late Fernandez, Erelu Dosunmu and little Antoinette

Princess Antoinette Oyinkansola Fernandez is Antonio Deinde Fernandez’s third youngest daughter and his only child with HRH Abiola Dosunmu, Erelu Kuti IV of Lagos. She works in the creative industries and is currently based in the UK.

Antoinette and mum

The last six years since my father’s passing have been filled with the sadness for the loss of my father as well as what feels like a besmirching of his legacy.
After all this is the man who is famed as being one of the first Nigerian Industrialists as well as an inspirational politico. My father brushed shoulders and became firm friends with the likes of Fidel Castro, JFK, Malcolm X, as well as Mandela and Kofi Annan, to name but a few.

Antoinette

As with many Nigerian families, I have been faced with unfortunate inheritance complications, a painful and traumatising experience, made all the more so for being under the public gaze. But there is a lesson here in that it is important to learn from past mistakes. Money is a great corruptor and it is essential that not just Nigerian, but African money does not end up in the hands of others. We need to invest in our own families, people and countries, and must do everything possible to uphold that, lest we hand it over to people who have already exploited our continent to the point of famine and poverty.

Antoinette

My father was a bold and bloody minded adventurer, as well as a savvy business man. He once said to me that you have to be prepared to risk everything in order to gain everything, advice that he clearly followed and mastered. As he made his first million astutely dealing with exploitative and racist business men, whilst working for the UN in the U.S at a time when Jim Crow laws – black and white segregation – were still going strong.

Fernandez, Dr Alex Quaison Sackey – the first Black African to serve as the president of the UN General Assembly and Malcolm X

As we make our way in an increasingly globalised world, it has never been more important for Nigerians and people of African descent to commemorate our pioneers, to uncover and explore their achievements. For in celebrating them, we celebrate ourselves, we say loudly that we know who we are, where we come from, and have a solid base from which to improve on the efforts of our ancestors.

It is my deeply held belief that Black women should endeavour to uphold and support each other. In a world where the odds are still very much against us, we need to protect and look out for one another, regardless of what there is to gain by doing otherwise.

Amb. Deinde Fernandez with late Oba of Lagos

I am currently developing a film that will uncover and explore my father’s extraordinary life, and it is my hope that it will be a project that Nigerians and people of African descent everywhere, will find not just informative, but also uplifting and reaffirming.

Social media handles: Instagram – @antoinettetoinette and Twitter – a4antoinette

Headline

Breaking: Wike Plans to Attend Thursday’s PDP NEC Meeting

Published

1 day ago

April 17, 2024

Eric

By Eric Elezuo

The immediate past Governor of Rivers State, and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr Nyesom Wike, may have concluded plans to attend the much advertised National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), billed to hold on Thursday, in Abuja.

Impeccable source, who is in the know, told The Boss that the minister, whose membership of the PDP is yet to be revoked even as he frolicks with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), and serving in the President Bola Tinubu government as a minister.

The Source told The Boss that Wike’s impending presence at the NECeeting on Thursday is not unconnected with plans, already hatched with some governors, to weaken the opposition PDP.

“Yes, we have on good authority that FCT minister, Wike is planning to attend the NEC meeting tomorrow all in a bid to weaken the fabrics of the PDP, and pave the way for the continuation of the Tinubu administration come 2027, and by extension, relapse Nigeria to a full blown one party state.

“From every indication, Wike and his co-travellers, are bent on unleashing the same crisis ravaging the third force, Labour Party, and Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso’s Nigerian National People’s Party (NNPP) on the PDP for the APC to remain the only political party in the country, and ensure that Tinubu has no challenger, come 2027,” the Source said.

It would be recalled that Wike has boasted over and again that there’s no opposition against Tinubu’s re-emergence in 2027, and that they have made sure of that. He has been compensated with the Ministerial job after he withdrew support for his party, and supported the APC and Tinubu to emerge as national government.

The Source further revealed that in the attempt to actualize the intended one party state, a lot of funding is ongoing to ensure that concerned stakeholders are ‘settled’ handsomely.

Wike, prior, during and after the 2023 general elections, has been floating in between the two major political parties; the APC and the PDP. While he claim to still be a member of the PDP, he is functioning as a minister in an APC government, mocking the inability of his party to discipline him.

Political stakeholders have concluded that the outcome of Thursday’s PDP NEC meeting will determine the path Nigeria’s political trajectory will take, and that it may portend the end of multi-party system and political democracy if Wike succeeds in his plan.

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Bribery, Corruption: APC Suspends National Chairman, Ganduje

Published

3 days ago

April 15, 2024

Eric

The All Progressives Congress ward in Ganduje, Dawakin Tofa Local Government Area, has suspended the party’s National Chairman, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje.

The party ward legal adviser, Halliru Gwanzo, announced the suspension while addressing newsmen in Kano State on Monday.

Gwanzo cited allegations of bribery against Ganduje levelled by the Kano State Government as the reason for the suspension.

“We decided to suspend Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje from the party due to the seriousness of the allegations against him,” Gwanzo said.

Meanwhile, efforts to contact the Chief Press Secretary to the APC National Chairman, Mr Edwin Olufo, failed as his mobile phone was unreachable.

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Akpabio Commits to Collaboration with Tinubu, Governor Umo Eno

Published

7 days ago

April 12, 2024

Admin

The President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, has stated his commitment to working closely with Nigeria’s President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and Governor Umo Eno to ensure the delivery of democratic benefits to the people of Akwa Ibom State.

Akpabio stated this in his country home, Ukana, Essien Udim Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom, while briefing his constituents on the journey so far as their representative in the red chamber.

He assured the people of Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District of his commitment to their welfare in appreciation of their total support for him, President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in last year’s election.

The Highpoint of the constituency briefing was the distribution of over 10,000 bags of rice and other essentials for his constituents from the wards, to the local governments.

A statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Jackson Udom, quoted Akpabio as saying, “I am here once again, to thank you for standing by me, our President and the party, before, during and even after last year’s elections. I have come to say thank you and also bring Renewed Hope to you all.

“As the President is doing his own, the Senate President is also doing his bit and being complemented by the state governor, Akwa Ibom would be the better for it. We have finished elections and politics, we are now into governance. The governor of the state must touch you, because he is the governor of all the people in the state irrespective of political affiliation.

” As I am touching you now from the political angle, I will also touch the state without any political party affiliation. Most of the projects we are putting in place would be used by people resident in the state. Relax, things are getting better.”

The former Governor of the state, assured his constituents that his current position as the Senate President would be used for the development of the state in collaboration with the President and the Akwa Ibom State Governor.

Hear him: This Senate President is not the one that would be fighting the state government. I will collaborate with , I will collaborate with , to make the state better for us all. We cannot be out of government for a long time. You have to go to a government that carries you along”

Akpabio promised to work for his constituents and Nigeria with all his strength, noting that, “as the President of the Senate, I am for the Southern region and the entire country. I may not come here regularly to tell you what I have been doing for you, but you will be feeling the impact on way or the other. Our unemployed youths would be gainfully employed. I will construct a mini stadium in all the local governments in the district, for our youths to develop their sporting potentials. ”