By Eric Elezuo

In what can be easily described a monumental reunion, the Chairman, Globacom Group and philanthropist par excellence, Dr. Mike Adenuga, visited the highly respected President of the Republic of Ghana, Dr. John Dramani Mahama, in his residence in Ghana.

The two distinguished African leaders, who had contributed immensely to the sociocultural and socio-economic renewal of the continent are meeting again years after Mahama honoured Adenuga with the highest award in the land.

Though the meeting was private, where the two ‘brothers’ reflected on their long standing friendship, they still found time to discuss their shared aspirations for the African continent.

According to a social media message by a mutual friend of the allies, Chief Dele Momodu, “The Spirit of Africa, DR MIKE ADENUGA JR., yesterday paid a visit to his friend and Brother, His Excellency PRESIDENT JOHN DRAMANI MAHAMA, at home in Accra. They spent quality time together before The Guru of Telecoms flew back to Lagos in the evening…”

Though the statement did not disclose the nitty gritty of the meeting, it maintained that they spent quality and rewarding time together, insinuating that the discussions could centre on the business development of their two countries, Nigeria and Ghana.

Mahama, on his part, was quoted as expressing deep appreciation for Adenuga’s contributions to Africa’s economic development, noting that Glo remains one of the major networks in Ghana.

“It was great reconnecting this weekend with Mike Adenuga, a West African icon in telecommunications and oil and gas,” Mahama said via his @officialjdmahama

Observers have said that Adenuga’s visit to Mahama in Ghana is a clear indication of their mutual respect, considering that Adenuga hardly leaves the comfort of his home.

Adenuga was among the first to offer congratulations to Mahama when he won the December 7 presidential election to made a historic comeback to the Flagstaff House in Accra. He did it in style with the following words:

DR MIKE ADENUGA JR. CONGRATULATES PRESIDENT-ELECT MAHAMA

My Dearest Brother,

On behalf of my family and myself, I extend our heartfelt congratulations to you on your resounding victory in the December 7, 2024, Presidential and Parliamentary elections in Ghana.

The joy and celebration filling the streets of Ghana reflect the deep love and admiration your people hold for you, as well as the lasting impact of your remarkable legacy as a former President.

I will always cherish the unwavering support you extended to investors in Ghana, as well as the profound honor of receiving the highest Ghanaian National Honor from you in 2016.

May this second chapter of your leadership be even more successful and transformative.

God bless Ghana.
With warmest regards,

Dr. Mike Adenuga Jr.

It is a well known fact that the preoccupation of one of Africa’s richest men in Africa, Adenuga, has remained the quest to positively affect the lives of those who come in contact with him as well as the generality of the citizens of Africa.

Adenuga, born with the healthy desire to tread even where the top echelon of the society, fears to tread, especially as it involves business development, is the founder/owner of Globacom, a communications giant, solely locally owned. His business concerns are enormous, and from there he has touched numerous lives, raised unnumbered wealthy persons, sponsored, and still sponsoring meets, sports and cultural fiestas including the just concluded Ojude Oba Festival; a festival he has, with Glo, sponsored for two straight decades.

The 20 straight years sponsorship of the Ojude Oba Festival has set Mike Adenuga apart as an impressive African cultural treasure, business phenomenon and this generation’s Mr. Consistency. His ability to see that the festival gained widespread recognition across its local habitat of Ijebu-Ode, stretching through and the South West, and inculcating the tribes of the Nigerian nation, has made the man known for many appellations to stand in thick and thin. His singular intention has remained to affect humanity, project Nigerian and African culture and prove that one can do it if he is determined.

Known by so many appellations including the Spirit of Africa for his philanthropic gestures across board, and The Bull, for his resilience and ability to dare the impossible, Adenuga has proved over the years that he is not the regular billionaire. He is of the stock that is not regulated by stock market figures, but by liquid cash. And that explains why his wealth and net worth supercedes whatever figures churned out by any institution, or any position he is placed in the billionaires’ list.

Adenuga is, for all intent and purpose, in a world and class of his own. This is because his business trajectory and personal philosophy are uniquely his, and therefore worthy of emulation.

Sitting atop one of the most cherished and subscribed network, Glo, Adenuga has not only inspired lives, but practically lifted not a few to enviable heights.

Known for his diverse investments in oil, gas, telecommunications, banking, construction, and real estate, Mike Adenuga notably shook up the African telecom sector with the launch of his telecommunications network, Globacom Limited (Glo), in August 2003.

Also referred to as The Guru, Adenuga is like the proverbial Iroko tree, who is unlike any other. In terms of humility, pedigree, magnanimity, wealth and portfolio of investments, he is one of a kind.

When the Federal Government decided to give indigenous businessmen licences in the dollar-denominated but capital-intensive upstream oil sector, Adenuga was one of those who applied.

Unlike others who sold their licences for quick money, Adenuga was vision personified, and decided to go into full scale prospecting and exploration. The gamble paid off as one of the wells that was being drilled struck oil, making his company, Consolidated Oil, the first indigenous Nigerian company to discover oil in commercial quantity. The epoch making discovery on December 24, 1991, changed many narratives.

Despite his success, Adenuga believes business must have a human face, it must add value, it must have an impact and ultimately, be socially responsible. These are some of the core values that he considers before throwing his money into any investment.

That is not all, he also firmly believes that the world is a field of battle and you must prepare to win, not some time but all the time. He’s a mountain climber like the Tibetan Monk, who believes that you must survive all odds to get to the top.

Incredible tales have been told about his amazing capacity for work. He is known to sleep very little when there is work to be done, and he expects his staff to imbibe the same work ethic. Though generous, he is said to have zero tolerance for incompetence or sloppiness. With him, one must be on their toes every time.

It is therefore, no surprise that his targeted investments and the grace of God Almighty have placed him well ahead of the authentic list of billionaires. His never-give-up spirit is well known and it is this force that has driven him to achieve feats many mortals will think are impossible.

Adenuga has no rival. He is a symbol of endurance, entrepreneurship, extraordinaire and self-made business titan, who is certainly one of the wealthiest black men in the world. No wonder, he has no rival even as the sponsorship of the Ojude Oba Festival and many others across cultures, are concerned.

GLO-SPONSORED 2025 OJUDE OBA FESTIVAL: A CULTURAL FIESTA LIKE NO OTHER

As with the previous 19 years celebration of the festival, Adenuga’s Glo stood out like a colossus that it has always been, directing and redirecting strategies, creating and recreating new vistas, setting new standards, redefining the horizon and upping the bar, leaving others stretching to catch up. That’s vintage Adenuga; nothing shall be impossible, according to his rule book.

Consequently, Adenuga and his team poured everything into the hosting of the 2025 carnival, giving it added impetus such as the Evening with Glo pre-event musical show at the Conference Hotel, Ijebu-Ode, showcasing the grace and candour of musical greats such as Evangelist Ebenezer Obey and K1 the Ultimate, and the after event banquet at the Palace. Both with an array of personalities and dignitaries set the stage for the grand festival, and nurtured the gains thereafter.

THE PRE-EVENT EVENING OF CLASS

During the evening of non-stop music, dance and fun, the duo of Juju Commander Evangelist Ebenezer Obey Fabiyi and king of Fuji music, Wasiu Ayinde Marshall, held the ancient town of Ijebu Ode spellbound to set the joyous mode for the kickoff of the 2025 Ojude Oba celebrations.

Glo media team captured proceedings as follows:

This year’s Ojude Oba marks the 20th anniversary of Globacom’s sponsorship of the festival during which it has helped transform it into a cultural icon and global tourist destination.

Tagged an “Evening with Glo “, it was a night of fun, splendid music, good cuisine and riveting jokes from the trio of Gbenga Adeyinka, Bash and  Kiekie.

For more than two hours, the legendary Ebenezer Obey Fabiyi sang from his repertoire of music to which the audience which filled the Conference Hall venue to the brim, vibed and mimed.

Globacom explained that the “Evening with Glo” was organised to thank the Ijebu community for their support for the brand for 20 years of its sponsorship of Ojude Oba festival.

“We decided to bring together great sons and daughters of Ijebuland to celebrate our shared heritage, and indulge in the melodious rhythms that resonate deeply throughout Yorubaland”, the company stated.

Speaking on its choice of musicians for the event, Glo added that  “the  ageless icon and Juju music maestro, Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey,  has contributed decades of good, sonorous and philosophical songs to our society. His songs are still as fresh and full of inspirational messages as they were yesterday”.

On KWAM 1, the company disclosed “For decades, King of Fuji, K1 De Ultimate, the Fuji master, has been a great part of the music firmament in Nigeria, with his unique brand of Fuji that has elicited huge interest”.

Eminent sons and daughters of  Ijebuland including the Olori of Oba Awujale, Chief Mrs. Olukemi Adetona; the Coordinator of Ojude Oba Festival Planning Committee, Professor Fassy Yusuff, and member of the committee and Iyalode of Ijebuland, Chief (Mrs.) Bisi Osibogun, attended the event.

OJUDE OBA: A DISPLAY OF CULTURE, COLOURS AND LAUGHTER 

As early as 7am on D-day, the pavillion and the stadium, opposite the Palace, venues of the festival, were already streaming with activities as crowd of people glad in intimidating array of colours scampered to get vantage positions for a firsthand of the annual jamboree.

With seats decorated with the green colour, and banners of all shapes and sizes, depicting the unfiltered presence communications giant, Glo, the stage was set for a memorable 2025 festival, and it is worth mentioning that Glo has spared no expense to give publicity to the event, drawing prominent media outfits such Ovation International, The Boss Newspaper, Arise News, ThisDay among others to the Ijebu Ode venue.

It is a fiesta the world should feed its eyes on,” the management of Glo had gushed as they mobilise coverage for the event.

Consequently, many celebrities, especially none Ijebu natives, who now see the events as an avenue to make bold fashion statements and project their cultural heritages in vivid light at the cultural festival, mobilised themselves to the event ground, making deafening statements about fashion, style and undiluted culture.

Some of them were actor Lateeef Adedimeji, actor Ibrahim Chatta, singer Ololade Keshinro, LilKesh, Juju legend Ebenezer Obey, Fuji star, Sulaimon Alao and Shefiu Alao, who featured and performed at the event, showcasing the unity and diversity of the festival.

Also present were popular TikTokker Jidex, singer Mike Abdul, Femi Branch, and Fuji icon Wasiu Ayinde, who are of Ijebu descent.

GLO’S GIFTS OF CARS, TRICYCLES, GENERATORS, OTHERS REDEFINE FESTIVAL

The Glo media team wrote:

This year’s edition of the Globacom-sponsored Ojude Oba was held on Sunday in Ijebu Ode, Ogun State, with the technology company marking the 20th anniversary of its support for the festival in splendid fashion by giving out cars, tricycles, power generators and other items at the event.

The Governor of Ogun State, Chief Dapo Abiodun, and the Minister of Arts, Culture, Tourism & Creative Economy, Barrister Hannatu Musa-Musawa, as well the Olorogun Sunny Kuku, the Ogbeni Oja of Ijebuland, attended the event which witnessed a colourful display by the almost 100 different Regberegbe groups who were competing to outshine each other in appearance, prominence and splendour.

The Balogun families also put up a sterling show with their dexterity in maneuvering their horses as they all paraded to honour the age-long tradition of paying obeisance to the Awujale of Ijebu land after the Eid celebrations.

Dr Abiodun, in his goodwill message at the event, lauded the over six decades reign of the Awujale as that of “purposeful leadership, progressive vision and unwavering commitment to the upliftment of Ijebuland and the entire Ogun State”, while Barrister Musawa, described the festival as a shinning testament of the “richness of our cultural diversity and the resilience of our traditional institutions in preserving history for future generations.”

The event, Globacom’s 20th consecutive sponsorship, was a huge opportunity to reward various segments of the Ijebu society. It distributed the top-of-the-grade Basmati rice to all the various Regberegbes as a way of celebrating them.

Several winners carted home mouth-watering prizes, including two brand new cars, Four Tricycles and others choice items, including Power Generating sets, grinding Machines and Sewing Machines.

One winner of a brand new car was chosen by the Ijebu society through a nomination process that saw 52-year-old Opeoluwa Osisanwo receiving the keys to a brand new car at the event.

Opeoluwa, a member of Egbe Tobalase Okunrin, was adjudged the most outstanding young leader in Ijebuland who has served the community diligently for years as Secretary of the Ojude Oba Festival Planning Committee.

“I never knew people were watching me. I was just serving my land of birth to the best of my ability”, he said, while expressing appreciation to the Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona, and all members of the Committee “for allowing me to work with them not minding the fact that I am the youngest among them”.

The other winner of a brand new car through the promo, Idowu Olabisi, a trader based in

Ijebu Igbo, was ecstatic after receiving the keys. She said that Globacom indeed gave her a spectacular gift at Eid period, as she had no inkling she would get such a car at this time.

Four brand new Tricycles (Keke) were carted home by various winners from within and around Ijebu. The winners included Hassan Toheeb, a businessman based in Ijebu Itele; Adenike Olanrewaju a Plank seller at Molipa, Ijebu Ode; Gazal Temitope, a trader who resides at Olisa, Ijebu Ode; and Lawal Tosin, a carpenter in Ijebu Ode.

As a distinguished communications giant, Glo has maintained a convention of giving Ojude Oba Festival the best of sponsorship, and 2026 edition will not experience less.