April 11, (THEWILL) – Last weekend, some prominent Nigerians converged on the Epe area of Lagos State at the invitation of businessman and investor, Femi Otedola, to felicitate with him on the occasion of his mother, Lady Christine Doja’s 90th birthday celebration. Here is an account of what happened behind-the-scene at the party, as captured by IVORY UKONU:
The celebrant’s church donation
Weeks before her birthday, Femi had disclosed that his mother was building a church which she planned to donate to Christendom. According to Femi, her lifelong ambition was to build a church and donate it to the glory of God. This she accomplished two days before her birthday. The celebrant’s favourite and popular son, Femi, her friends and age grade members, accompanied her, all dancing joyfully, to the church building, St Peters Catholic Church, Odorangushi, Epe. The church was formally dedicated by the Metropolitan Archbishop of Lagos, His Grace, Dr Alfred Adewale Martins on her birthday.
Femi Otedola’s friends honour his mom
Very early on the morning of her birthday, just before the celebrations kicked off, some of Femi’s friends, such as billionaire businessman, Aliko Dangote; Quits Aviation founder, Sam Iwuajoku; Chairman of Zenith Bank Plc, Jim Ovia, etc. visited Lady Doja at her home to felicitate with her before heading out for the celebrations.
Attendance by invitation only
The 2-in-1 party was open to guests by invitation only. Unless you presented your invite for scrutiny, you were denied entry at the venue.
The seating arrangement
The celebration started with a church service/formal dedication of the church. Since it was not exactly a big one, only a few very important guests were allowed to enter the church building. To further avoid a clash of egos between guests, name tags were placed on each seat in the church and this was strictly adhered to. A huge canopy was also erected outside the church to accommodate the large crowd that turned out for the event. A projector was mounted in the canopy to beam proceedings from inside the church.
Only three governors in attendance
Only three governors attended the church service and reception party. They were Governors Godwin Obaseki of Edo State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State and Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State.
Nana Otedola conspicuously absent
Femi’s ‘wife,’ Nana Otedola, was conspicuously absent at her ‘mother in-law’s’ birthday party. Nana has been out of Nigeria for a while, only coming into the country on very short trips, which are few and far between. Nana and Femi’s marriage has always courted media attention because he got himself involved in a relationship drama before and after marrying her. The couple is also rumoured to be nursing an alleged strained relationship and this may not be unconnected to Nana’s absence at the birthday party.
Epe hotels fully booked
All the major hotels in Epe and its environs were fully booked before the church dedication and birthday party, majorly because of the long distance from the venue of the party. Since the party continued into the wee hours of the following day, many who enjoyed themselves thoroughly thought it wise to stay back and get a hotel room instead of driving back to their destinations. Unfortunately this turned out to be impossible due to the unavailability of vacant rooms.
Multi-talented Darey Art-Alade
Singer and entertainment entrepreneur, Darey Art Alade has, no doubt, lived up to expectation as master of ceremony. This explains why he is easily the first choice of MC for most A-list parties, including Lady Doja’s party where he delivered well on the job.
The dramatic entrance of the birthday cake
As with most parties nowadays, the celebrant’s entrance is always accompanied with much razz mattaz. However, Lady Doja decided to take a different route. Rather than have a dramatic entrance, she chose to make her birthday cake have the dramatic entrance instead. The cake was lowered into the hall from the roof of the party venue, to the delight of guests.
Dj Cuppy’s performance, philanthropy
One of the highlights of the party was a performance by Florence Ifeoluwa, aka DJ Cuppy, one of the celebrant’s granddaughters. Dressed in a traditional ensemble with her backup singers and dancers, the Oxford University undergraduate thrilled her grandmother and guests in attendance to her ‘hit’ single, Gelato. In appreciation, the guests sprayed her with cash in various currencies. A few days later, she tweeted a message revealing her plan to donate the money she got from her performance to those in dire need of it.
Bola Tinubu’s conspicuous absence
For the second time in about a month, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the national leader of the All Progressives Congress Party, APC and a presidential aspirant, has deliberately avoided being seen in the same space with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. Although he had gone to Abuja a few days earlier, he was expected to return in time for the party, but that wasn’t to be. His absence further lends credence to the state of his relationship with Osinbajo which has since developed some cracks. A few weeks ago, Tinubu was absent during the installation of the 42nd Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Lekan Balogun, who is his close friend and whose presence would have been a morale booster for the new Olubadan, just to avoid Osinbajo. Also pundits are of the opinion that knowing that some of his political foes, like former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, etc, would be at the party, Tinubu had decided to avoid the gathering.
Seyi Tinubu represented father
Bola Tinubu’s son, Seyi, was at the party gallivanting everywhere just to get noticed. While church proceedings were ongoing, he drove in with a retinue of aides and his security personnel in a 2021 Mercedez Benz G-Class, G63. His entrance got some of the guests, who were glued to the projector watching the live service, distracted as he kept going back and forth from his car to the canopy and into the church building. Each time he journeyed to his car, he was followed by his aides, his personal security and street urchins who kept shouting his praise with the appellation, ‘incoming’. At the reception ground, he barely sat down as he made sure to exchange pleasantries with virtually all the VIP guests. Many were of the opinion that he was perhaps his father’s representative at the party.
Tunde Folawiyo’s effort to unwind
Embattled businessman and patriarch of the Folawiyo clan, Tunde Folawiyo, took time out to unwind at the party. At the party, he looked nothing like a man who is battling to save one of his prized properties from being taken over by Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON for raking over N700 million in debts. Folawiyo, who is struggling to remove himself from the entanglement with AMCON, has however denied being a debtor and has filed a motion before a Federal High Court in Lagos seeking an order of stay of execution of an ex-parte orders made against him in satisfaction of the judgement debt.
Mo Abudu’s restlessness
Movie executive, Mo Abudu was at the party but without her retinue of friends who always accompany her to events, save for one. She arrived the sleepy town of Epe and headed straight to the reception ground. She looked uncomfortable while sitting alone and waiting to see a familiar VIP. She sighted presidential aspirant, Kingsley Moghalu first, hoping to strike up a conversation but she only ended up introducing herself. Soon after, the Ogun State governor, Dapo Abiodun sauntered in and Mo made a beeline for him. After the exchange of pleasantries, the governor made for his chair and rather than take that as a cue to return to her seat, Mo kept hovering over him trying to make small talks. After a while she returned to her seat. She barely sat down before she got up again, walked round the hall and made for Abiodun’s seat again to continue with her small talk. At this point, the governor was visibly uncomfortable with her restlessness around him as he was seated at a reserved area of the hall meant for dignitaries and that meant all eyes would be on him. Mo eventually got the drift and left him alone.
King Sunny Ade serenaded guests
The king of Juju music, Sunny Ade has always been Femi’s choice for entertaining his guests at parties and Lady Doja’s party was no different. The septuagenarian was in his elements on the band stand and made sure to praise sing the dignitaries present, all of who appreciated him with wads of money in different currencies.
About the Author
