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| Alakija’s campaign posters |
Africa’s richest woman,
Folorunsho Alakija has disowned the posters advertising her interest in the
Lagos Governorship election in 2015.
Alakija in a statement urged the
people to ignore whatever they may have read purportedly portraying her as a
governorship aspirant.
According to the statement,”It
has come to my notice, that there are posters and fliers being circulated in
Ikorodu and other parts of Lagos State announcing me as a Governorship
aspirant.
“This is not true and I hereby
confirm that I have no such intentions. Therefore, I disassociate myself from
any persons or group of persons, posters or fliers in circulation about me
contesting for governorship.
“I
have been paying attention to my calling from God to look after widows and
orphans through The Rose of Sharon Foundation and I am also in service most
importantly to God’s work as a Minister of his Word through His Ministry
committed to us as the Rose of Sharon Glorious Ministry International.
“God
has not called me into politics and I have never been involved in politics.
Please ignore whatever you may have read purportedly portraying me as a
governorship aspirant.
Her
posters were this morning seen at the Lagos State Government Secretariat,
Alausa inviting people to support her ambition for the governorship seat.
The
caption on the posters read: “2015: Vote Folorunsho Alakija for Governor.” The
posters did not specify Alakija’s political will be contesting.
It
could also not be ascertained if the posters emanated from her as efforts to
get her to comment on issue proved abortive at press time.
Calls
made to her phone was picked by a white man who said she was in a meeting and
that she would call back after the meeting, but she never did.
Alakija
is seen by many as a woman of impeccable character and one that could provide
the needed leadership to move Lagos forward, but with the dominant All Progressives
Congress, APC, in power in Lagos, it is doubtful if she can achieve her
aspiration outside the party.
In
2013, Forbes named Alakija as the richest black woman on earth as she defeated
the television show-host and actress, Oprah Winfrey. By November, 2013, Forbes
put her net worth at $2.5 billion. But by January 2014 her net worth had
skyrocketed to $7.3 billion courtesy Mail of UK, beating Oprah Winfrey whose
net worth is now $2.9 billion to the second place.
She
worked as a secretary in a Nigerian Merchant bank in the 1970s and later left
to study fashion design in England. She subsequently founded Supreme Stitches,
a Nigerian fashion label that catered for upscale clientele, including the late
Maryam Babangida, wife of Nigeria’s former military Head of State, General
Ibrahim Babangida.
It
was during the reign of Babangida that her company Famfa Oil got an oil
prospecting license which went on to become OML 127, one of Nigeria’s most
prolific oil blocks. Famfa Oil owned a 60% stake in the block until 2000, when
then President Olusegun Obasanjo acquired a 50% interest in the block. Famfa
Oil went to court to challenge the acquisition, and the Nigerian Supreme Court
reinstated the 50% stake to Famfa Oil in May 2012.
Her
60 per cent stake in the block is currently valued at around $7.3 billion,
Ventures Africa reported.
Source: PM NEWS
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