Last week, the Chairman of HEIRS Holdings, Tony Onyemaechi Elumelu, posted on his social media page, a video of the president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, exchanging banters with him. The video captured the moment Tinubu alighted from his SUV into his warm embrace with Elumelu hailing him saying, “The last man standing, he is still standing”.
He captioned the video, “Last night, I was honoured to receive the Nigerian President-elect @officialasiwajubat at my home. We discussed ways in which the incoming administration must empower and support our immensely talented Nigerian youth. We have so much young potential to unleash!”
Without mincing words, the video spoke volumes. But one of the few things the video offered is an insight into how Tinubu holds Elumelu in high esteem to warrant him paying him a visit in his home. While most Nigerians, particularly some of Elumelu’s business counterparts like Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man and Femi Otedola, flew into Abuja to seek an audience with and jostled for photographs with Tinubu as soon as he was declared president-elect by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Tinubu thought it expedient to honour Elumelu by flying into Lagos to pay him a visit in his home.
Obviously, Elumelu must have played a very important role in the process that led to Tinubu’s emergence as president-elect. From the video and pictures posted, both men looked relaxed in each other’s company as Elumelu took his time to introduce some of his staff present in his home. The only other person Tinubu has visited personally since he was declared president-elect is the Oba of Lagos, his Royal Highness, Rilwan Babatunde Osuolale Aremu Akiolu. And this is simply because of his royal status.
It is pertinent to state that while Elumelu kept his choice of presidential candidate to himself, without openly aligning, subtly or otherwise with any of them, Otedola made his preferred candidate known quite early when he flew all the way to France to visit Tinubu mid 2022, shortly after he declared his intention to rule Nigeria. Need I add that posting the video sent a strong message to Nigeria’s business and political class about the rise in his network (networth). Elumelu was subtly putting out the message that he is not just a mere businessman as many have come to regard him but also an important and influential power broker who rubs shoulders with those who ‘really’ matter.
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