BEVERLY HILLS, February 14, (THEWILL) – Some of the most prominent male members of the Lagos social scene have been at loggerheads in the past few months over who occupies what ‘juicy’ position at the prestigious Lagos Motor Boat Club, Ikoyi.
These high-profile members, mostly silver spoon kids have been at daggers drawn over issues that arose from the 2020 elections of the members on ly, exclusive club.
Those at the centre of this conundrum are popular names such as Eyimofe Atake (SAN), Yinka Akinkugbe, Jide Coker, Ladi Ani-Mumuney, Jide Balogun, Dapo Majekodunmi, Ladi Ajose-Adeogun, Dr Charles Hammond, Demola Akinrele (SAN), Femi Fowora, Folabi Balogun, Dapo Oshinusi, Prince Francis Awogboro, Tokunbo Ogunbanjo, Lanre Towry Coker etc.
Narrating his own side of the story on how the issue that almost led to exchange of fisticuffs and insults being thrown at will, Demola Akinrele, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and a senior member of the club, traced the origin of the crisis to discussions he had with some members of the club like Femi Fowora, Folabi Balogun and Ladi Ajose Adeogun – all of who are former ‘Commodores’ (a position in the club), with a view to suggesting improvements on the operations of the club as well as the upcoming 2020 elections of new officers.
According to Akinrele, he had expressed his position about Jide Coker, a duty officer to Ogunbanjo. He didn’t want Jide to put himself up for reelection as he felt that some of Jide’s ideas on certain aspects of the club’s operations are unorthodox. His message was relayed to Jide who initially accepted not to seek reelection but later changed his mind.
Unfortunately, the proposition to Coker ended up being misconstrued and ironically, fueled sympathy towards him. Misconstruing Akinrele’s intention caused things to degenerate prompting Oshinusi to table the matter to a Trustee and a former president of the club, Awogboro, asking for his intervention and prevent a breakdown of law and order. While reporting the matter, Oshinusi fingered Akinrele and Ajose-Adeogun as being behind the tension brewing.
But after listening to Akinrele and Ajose-Adeogun’s side of the story, Awogboro agreed with their suggestion and directed that Jide not run in the 2020 elections. However, to the shock of Awogboro, his fellow trustees, Towry-Coker and Ogunbanjo, went ahead to put up Coker’s name for reelection, prompting Awogboro to cross it off on the board where it was placed with his signature appended to it. This did not go down well with Jide’s supporters who requested that the person that struck out Jide’s name be disciplined.
Now Awogboro is in his 80s and asking that an 82-year-old man be sanctioned was to say the least, the height of disrespect. And this set off a chain of reactions that has since engulfed the club.
In an attempt to exonerate Awogboro, Akinrele explained that Awogboro as a trustee properly intervened under rule 10 of the club because he was invoked by a member to deal with a matter which was affecting the club.
“Even though it was not a matter initially referred to the Trustee by the committee, it was adopted and ratified by the committee through the involvement of the ‘Commodore’ at the meeting, leading to the decision and subsequent communication to Coker of the directive of the Trustee. Akinrele further said that the Trustee’s determination under this order is only advisory and should not extend to curtailing the right of a member to stand for election,” Akinrele said.
But Akinrele’s attempt to douse the fire he started, only fueled it the more, creating further divisions among members. Insults were thrown at each other with some members such as Atake almost coming to blows with Ogunbanjo for openly insulting an octogenarian who dared to remove Jide’s name from the election board for ‘no just cause’.
A few weeks after the elections, shortly after the clubs’ Annual General Meeting, Atake in a letter claimed that while reading his speech, he was heckled and jeered at by Akinkungbe and Ajose Adeogun in an attempt to disrupt the AGM and embarrass him for among other things, attempting to stop insults being rained on Awogboro.
Atake accused the duo of stirring trouble in the club and particularly accused Akinkugbe of belonging to a group in the club “that is driven from behind-the-scenes by Ajose-Adeogun” whom he referred to as ‘obnoxious and a sinful genius,’ “who is too much of a coward to be seen to be steering things, as to want to rock and destroy the foundation of the Office of Trusteeship of the club.”
In his response, Akinkugbe tried to dispel any notion that he has any personal animosity with any individual in the club, insisting that he is all about the rules that govern the club. While eulogising Jide Coker for carrying out his elected duty as a member of the club without earning as much as a query during his tenure, he however considered it a grave disservice that Jide Coker got expelled for daring to put himself up for reelection even after he was told to step down.
“Jide Coker is an ordinary member of the club who in a club election in 2019 was elected to serve on the committee of the club. Clearly his performance in that role and his attendance to meetings and the responsibilities of his office were diligently carried out. He was not in any case found wanting and no disciplinary measures were taken against him. At least not until a group of members who wished to remain in the shadows (Fowora, Akinrele) decided that he was not worthy of the office.
“Please note he had not prior to this action been summoned for any offence. Please note he did not nominate himself. Please note he was nominated by two members who had every right to do so. One Dr. Lanre Towry Coker is a long-standing member of the club and the other a respected Senator, former secretary of the club and Trustee of another much older club in the country, Senator Tokunbo Ogunbanjo. The two members wrote to the committee asking why their nomination was cancelled. They were informed that the cancellation had been done by the Trustee,” the statement read in part.
Addressing the issue of Ogunbanjo’s actions which culminated into an insult on the person of Awogboro leading to his expulsion, Akinkugbe felt the judgment was one sided as Atake’s disruptive behaviour has been far in excess of any statement made by Senator Ogunbanjo on the said issue. Yet Atake wasn’t sanctioned.
On how he hopes this whole brouhaha will end, Akinkugbe in his piece said, “I cannot predict how but I am sure that until we reverse the first illegal action to stop Jide Coker from running in a club election and affirm what the rules state, ‘that any member of two years standing can run in a club election, we cannot progress happily. What happens after a necessary reversal, whether re instatement of membership for Jide Coker and lifting the strange indefinite suspension of Senator Ogunbanjo without blemishes, is for the club to decide.
“The Trustee after doing the right thing might suffer some embarrassment for misunderstanding and misuse of his authority and causing club members trepidation, great pain and anguish. A small price to pay for the club and the members to recover some equilibrium.”
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