Platinum Cheers For The Enigmatic Chairman At 70

By Michael Effiong

Today, the entire world would rise in unison to applaud and celebrate the inimitable Dr. Mike Adenuga Jr. GCON, CSG, CdrLH, a great son of Africa, a man who has created opportunities for thousands, changed the lives of millions and impacted the world as he hits platinum.

Biblically, turning three scores and ten is no easy feat, it is a landmark that calls for thanksgiving to God and also a time to reminisce on the life of this prodigiously blessed billionaire who has become like King Midas in the sense that anything he has touched, has turned to gold.

In this my account, I go down memory lane to bring to fore the fact that the ovation that have been showered on this shrewd investor, go-getter, risk taker and visionary businessman is more that well deserved!

As the Society Editor of the now-rested Fame Magazine, it was my duty to know first-rate Nigerian celebrities and write everything about them: The Good. The Bad and the Ugly. I attended all the big events and met so many of the leading lights of our nation at that time. Mention any person, I was able to tell you a thing or two about that individual.

In the early 1990s, Fame was the numero uno celebrity journal in Nigeria. It was what Newswatch was in the magazine genre and Daily Times in the Newspaper genre. For some inexplicable reasons, the name Dr. Mike Adenuga Jr never featured in any of my reportage.

His name began to ring a bell when I was invited for a media parley, which later became a monthly affair by Otunba ‘Niyi Adewunmi through Chief Dele Momodu.

The meeting was on the behest of a man he consistently referred to as “Chairman”. At that time, Otunba Adewunmi used to flash a complimentary card, which if my memory serves me right, had the inscription World Span Holdings Limited emblazoned on it. So, my guess was that Adenuga, our monthly, but unseen host, was the Chairman of World Span.

During the lunch, we will discuss everything but Adenuga. This got me very curious.

What made me more curious was the fact that Otunba Adewunmi will always pull me aside after our lunch date at the usual venue, The Kitchen on Allen Avenue, Ikeja and whisper, “Your namesake says I should specially great you”.

That struck a chord, and I made a note of that statement, concluding that this Mike Adenuga must be a meticulous person and a voracious reader, if he could spend time reading what we wrote at Fame!

Anyway, as a trained journalist, who will forever be inquisitive, I began to dig a bit into who this mysterious Mike Adenuga Jr. really was.

Nothing much came up until I stumbled on the fact that  he and Newswatch Editor in-Chief, the late Dele Giwa, were friends and even used to live on the same Talabi Street in Ikeja. That was how I began to nurse the idea of interviewing him.

So, at one of those lunch events at The Kitchen restaurant, I approached Otunba Adewunmi and said “Please sir, tell my namesake that I want to have a one-on-one interview with him?” He laughed for almost a minute and said “Mike, let me tell you, forget it, your namesake does not do interviews. But I will pass on your message”.

I will never know if Otunba Adewunmi ever passed on that message, but he never came back with a response. I then began to draw a mental picture of Dr Mike Adenuga Jr: Taciturn, tough, media shy, cerebral, astute and a Master Tactician, who does things on his own terms.

I also developed a lot of admiration for him for staying anonymous and elusive in a country like Nigeria, where being showy was the norm.

I was more than excited a few years later when one beautiful day, I received a call from a lady who claimed she was calling from “The Office of the Chairman”. At first, I thought she was from the office of Fame’s Chairman, Mr Tayo Adesanya, but she affirmed that she was calling from the office of Dr Mike Adenuga Jr.

I remember thinking that this could either be a prank or something truly remarkable was about to happen.

To say this call caused a rush of blood to my head would be an understatement. Tales have by then been woven about this mythic Adenuga and a hundred thoughts flowed in my head that very second.

The lady then said “Chairman has a message for you” and went ahead to give specific directions. My thinking at the time was, wow, this was my opportunity to have an interview with him at last!

Well, that did not happen as “the message”, turned out to be very huge gift! I was later to get a few more messages. But later, I had the much-awaited one-on-one with Dr Mike Adenuga Jnr.

Honestly, the whole night before that encounter, I could not sleep. My anxiety was sky high as I imagined how he would look like in person, what he would say etc. I had also prepared questions, and rehearsed how I will deliver them, thinking this was my long-awaited interview opportunity. I arrived for the appointment one hour ahead of time!

That day, when I got to his office in Victoria Island, Lagos and announced to the security man that I had come to see the Chairman, he looked me from head to toe, not once, not twice but thrice. My heart sank when he then said “wait here a moment”

He then came back with a smile and showed me to a waiting area. Everything seemed odd because there was no other person there! I thought there would be loads of people waiting to see such a “big man”. At the stroke of time, I was invited to his office.

I am not sure if I used the lift or the staircase to his floor, but I remember that I was very apprehensive. When I was showed to his door, I stopped for a few minutes before stepping in and could not but notice the words GURU AT WORK inscribed at the door.

When I walked in, The Guru was seated, and as if he noticed my anxiety and nervousness, he smiled and said, E dem nfo? Wow, I was taken aback! E dem nfo is Ibibio for “How are you?” I quickly responded Asong, literally meaning “I am well”.

He was first to extend his hand of greeting, I stretched out two of mine to meet one of his. Instantly, I felt the softness, freshness and warmth of his hand. And he then offered me a sit, which I quickly slipped into as I scanned the luxurious but very functional office.

Before, I could recover from that rare expression of humility, and fire the questions I had rehearsed, he took charge of the session.

He said he just wanted to say thank you. I don’t remember much else of what we discussed for the about 10 minutes or so that I was there, but it had nothing to do with him or his business.

He was very polite, calm and in a very jolly mood. Ending the meeting was on his terms, he just called it a day. Again, he gave me a warm handshake and that was it!

As I stepped out of the office and made my way out, I was trailed by his very subtle but masculine perfume. What an experience!

After that encounter, I began to receive his end-of-year cards, I call it end of year because his cards usually arrive first, well ahead of any other and well before the yuletide season.

Trust me, Adenuga epitomizes the word enigma. The business titan has wowed many with his act of generosity, and anyone who has received one of those personalized cards or a call from Chairman’s Office will attest to the fact that he is indeed the “Chairman of Chairmen”. He almost always makes an impression with his act of giving.

And don’t try to reciprocate this kind gesture by sending your own card or gift to his office. You will hit a brick wall. I learnt this hard lesson too.

I had commissioned one of my colleagues then, Kanbi Owolabi, to make a special hand-crafted card for Chairman. I had spent days creatively crafting the words.
I had planned to send it in November, knowing full well his, usually arrives early December. When the card was ready, I wanted to be stylish so I dispatched it through a top courier company. Surprisingly, the parcel was returned. The excuse was that no one was there to receive it.

Since I knew his office, I decided to handle the matter personally, because I thought the courier company staff were incompetent.
When I got to the place, the security man told me with a straight face. “We do not receive any parcel on behalf of the Chairman here” And that was the end of story!

I walked back to my car with my ego totally deflated, but I kept that card in my bedroom for years. It was another lesson learnt from the man some fondly call The Bull. He cherishes his privacy and guides it jealously.
Even during his toughest battle yet, when his life and business were in danger during the Obasanjo administration, and he had to go on exile in Ghana, he never changed.

We lived on the same street in the highbrow Airport Residential Area in Accra and what I noticed was that his house had the highest fence in the neighbourhood. The gate of that all-white mansion was always firmly shut.

But I did spot someone like him driving around in a tinted BMW salon car a couple of times. He seems to be at ease and at home in his own world.

After that first encounter in his office, anytime we met, he always began with that greeting of E dem nfo. Of course, I will beam with a smile and respond, and then we will go on to speak or he just moves along if it is a public function. Talking of public functions, this seems to be an anathema for him. He seems to detest crowded places.

But with the birth of Globacom, he became a national figure and therefore had to leave his office comfort zone to attend some public functions-most times, he would be sitting at a corner and would wish to be incognito.

He would always feel very uncomfortable when klieg lights or camera lights are flashed on his face. Whenever that happens, Adenuga, a fervent Catholic, will be engrossed in his rosary, which is one thing that I have noticed he always carries everywhere.

Though, I have not seen or heard from him for over a decade, he has remained his enigmatic self and as constant as the Northern star. Still private, still reclusive, still elusive and still making exploits in the world of business.

Described as a typical Taurean: he is bold and bullish. No wonder on all his key properties and even his home, an imposing sculpture of a bull, the bronze type, you find on Wall Street near the famous New York Stock Exchange is conspicuously positioned for all to see.

Perhaps, it is a sign to people that the owner of this property is a courageous and serious-minded persona who has zero tolerance for time wasters.

Adenuga is a perfectionist who is passionate about his business, pressure does not seem to get to him, rather it fuels him. He is a calculative dreamer who always seizes opportunities. He is one who never believes that the word “impossible” exists. Anything he wants he strives to get!

He seems to have ingrained this culture and drive in his children as I witnessed with his daughter, Mrs. Bella Disu, during her wedding in 2010.

That event can be described as one of the best weddings ever held in Nigeria, and I can say so with all sense of sincerity because of my line of work.

The grandeur and glamour on display were indescribable and till date, I have never seen that much quantity of Amand de Brignac popularly called Ace of Spades and Don Perignon champagnes at a single event. It was mind-boggling and only a Dr. Mike Adenuga could have pulled off such a wondrous spectacle.

I should not have been surprised because those who know him have confirmed that he is a man of fine taste. He is not one of those who would be considered to be filled with joie de vivre.

He is said to be a finicky connoisseur, who enjoys every opportunity to “spoil” his guests with a bit of the good things of life, he himself savours.
Ovation International had the privilege of getting the exclusive rights for the wedding so I had to attend a few meetings with the then Miss Bella Adenuga at the Mike Adenuga Towers at the insistence of her aunt, Ms. Funmi Osunsade.

At one of the meetings, I came in to hear the Event Planner, Mrs. Uche Majekodunmi, lamenting that she had presented over 10 shades of a particular colour to the bride, who insisted that she still had not seen the specific one she wanted and was wondering if the bride could settle for any other one.

The beautiful bride cut her off immediately. Mrs. Disu affirmed that she has seen that shade in a catalogue and knows it exists somewhere in this world, she told Mrs Majekodunmi clearly that as far as that colour exists, she must have it. And that was the end of the discussion.

On the day of the event, I noticed that the shade of colour that was in contention, miraculously appeared and it was used for the venue décor! That incident showed me that she is indeed a chip of the old block. She would not take no for answer, just like her dear dad, Dr. Mike Adenuga Jr.

Many people say he is the richest black man alive; I cannot doubt their assessment going by his business acumen, doggedness, determination, sheer guts and humongous investments in oil & gas, real estate, construction, banking and telecommunications.

If you consider that he is the only Nigerian that solely owns a vast telecommunications network (Globacom and Glo 1 Submarine cable) which milks money per second and also owns thriving oil wells, then, no one should be told that he is second to none.

The joke in town is that Adenuga is so financially blessed that those who compile the yearly Rich Lists are too scared to assess his true worth, especially because most of his earnings are not in quoted companies and so cannot be added up with a calculator, like the wealth of many of the others.

In truth, I believe, Adenuga likes the way he is presently being undervalued and under estimated. He certainly likes to operate under the radar as his assets and earnings are growing by the second, while having a good laugh at the expense of these publishers, analysts and financial experts.

God has certainly blessed this man of means immensely. He is indeed a combination of grit and grace, maybe that is the main reason he has built a chapel in his imposing Ikoyi, Lagos home to enable him thank God daily for His mercies.

By all indices, Adenuga, the visionary, self-made towering symbol of enterprise and excellence is Nigeria’s most decorated, celebrated and foremost business icon.
Knowing full well that he will not have a public event to mark this extra special occasion, please join me, let’s raise a toast as I hand this beautiful garland to the great son of Nigeria, Africa’s gift to the world, billionaire extraordinaire and philanthropist par excellence, Dr. Mike Adenuga Jr. GCON, CSG, CdrLH, on the occasion of his 70th birthday. Congratulations Chairman sir!