So many people often ask the question about where Asiwaju Bola Tinubu made his money. This is because he hardly talks about his portfolio of investments many don’t know how he made his money. All they know is that he is a man with a large heart.
He
is a man whom many run to for help and no matter the issues you took to him, he
solves them instantly, and no matter the problem, he supports you financially
that literally, everyone smiles home. How did Asiwaju start making money and
what are the businesses he is into? He once spoke about it how he started
making money shortly after he finished his school abroad before relocating back
to the country and other people close to him also revealed some of his business
affiliations abroad where he makes millions.
Asiwaju
Tinubu always had the desire to travel abroad but never had the opportunity,
until the day life served him the opportunity on a platter of gold. While
schooling in Chicago, Tinubu did some menial jobs,. Because he had several
sources of income, he no longer depended on his family in Nigeria for money. He
was a very brilliant student, he maintained his position as the best student
from the beginning of the academic year until the end. His excellent
performance earned him a scholarship and also qualified him to tutor in the
accounting department.
Tinubu
graduated as the best student in his class. As the best graduating student in
his class, he was eligible for several job offers from big accounting firms in
the United States. Some of the firms were Arthur Andersen, Arthur Young, Ernst
and Whinney, Peat Marwick and Mitchell, Deloitte, IBM, Arthur Young, Deloitte,
Haskins and Sells, etc.
Tinubu
had the option of picking just one company. He would have picked the highest
paying job but his professor advised that he choose a company where he would
learn and be relevant to his country. This made him choose Deloitte and Touche
because their clients are in the oil and gas sector since Nigeria is an oil-producing
country.
After
a successful career at Deloitte and Touche, he went on to work with General
Telephone and Electronics (GTE). While at GTE, he experienced first-hand racism
and discrimination, so he resigned and went on to work at Mobil, United Kingdom.
Tinubu
once revealed in a lengthy interview he granted The News magazines, he narrated
how one of his working trips as Auditor of Deloitte and Touché, made him an
instant millionaire. He puts it, “we had gone there to set up their accounting
and auditing system. it was while on that service I got my financial break. When
I returned to the united states, my employers rewarded me with a huge bonus, which
constantly turned me into a millionaire. The bonus was 850 thousand dollars,
before taxes. My salary was also being paid into the bank and I was not
touching them, at the time, my salary deposits had risen to about a 1.8million
dollars. I bought a house from the money and invested the rest in the United
States. I was living well. I was living in one of the most influential
neighbourhoods in the south of Chicago”.
Thereafter
he stayed back working for several years in the US before returning to Nigeria
to serve as an accounting executive for Mobil.
While
working in the US, Tinubu spread his tentacles to other lucrative businesses
and had stakes in many big conglomerates abroad as testified to by the Director-General, Asiwaju Support Group Management Council, and a former member of the
House of Representatives from Kano State, Abdulmumin Jibrin in a Special publication
by The News on Asiwaju Tinubu. In his words, he revealed some other businesses
Asiwaju is involved in abroad. “This man did not get into politics as a poor
man. I can assure you that no senator of the federal republic of Nigeria is a
poor man. He went into politics as a senator of the federal republic. It is in
public glare that this man has business in his DNA, both in exporting and the
rest. All the people are fully aware that he was sponsoring pro-democracy
struggles almost singlehandedly. Nobody has come out with a contrary opinion to
the pro-democracy activism in the mid-nineties all through. So why are they
asking from where he was getting all that money?. And over the years, here is a
man who has had investments all over the world, a massive shareholding in Apple
inc. I was surprised later, while watching a football match with him, to get to
know that he is a shareholder in Manchester United (football club) So he has
been in business and if we put that aside, for somebody of his calibre and the
level he has attained in politics, not only in Nigeria but all over the world,
Asiwaju will have enormous goodwill”.
Also
in the same publication, Taiwo Ogundipe, a journalist and author titled his
article, From the refugee life to Lagos State House and took excerpts from
Tinubu’s forthcoming book, Pathfinder, the life and Politics of Asiwaju Bola
Ahmed Tinubu where he revealed one of Asiwaju’s businesses when he was in
exile. He narrated how Tinubu was shuttling between UK and US, making his hideout a house of exile while also getting in touch with his wife and children in
Nigeria providing sustenance for them. He wrote’ He would also provide
sustenance for the person and members of his family through his investments,
especially his Gas station in Washington DC is run by his wife, Oluremi”.
Tinubu’s other reported investments include TVC stations in Lagos and The
Nation Newspapers and other property businesses also abroad and in Nigeria.
-TAYO
OYEDIJI
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