Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday January 20, 2015
L5 Society
Ita Giwa, others top list of
single wealthy society women Isaac Oguntoye
Before now, women are assumed to be marginalized both nationally and internationally, in Africa especially. But if you are conversant with the happenstances in today’s business and political world, it’s quite obvious that more women are dictating the tunes now. Yes! They are rich, powerful and a good number of them are drop-dead gorgeous, but still single. Some of them actually have grownup children who are already married.
Ita Giwa
Mama Bakassi, Florence Ita Giwa, was elected Senator, Cross River South constituency of Cross River State, Nigeria. She’s also a notable socialite who was once President Olusegun Obasanjo’s Special Adviser on National Assembly Matters. Aside the fact that this woman made so much money in politics, she’s among the top socialites that control every social gathering both within and outside the country. Without mincing words, during her daughter’s wedding, the high calibre of people in attendance caused a heavy traffic around Eko Hotel in Lagos, last year. Gossip has it that her status within the society might not have risen that high if she was married. Whether it is true or not, she’s doing tremendously well as a single parent.
Bola Shagaya
Hajia Bola Shagaya is a Nigerian businesswoman and fashion enthusiast. If you say she is one of the richest women in Africa, you are still on the right track. Hajia Bola Shagaya (MON) who was married to Alhaji Shagaya, a Kwara State-based transport mogul, with whom she has four children, has since moved on with life. Single, Hajia Bola Shagaya is also the managing director of Practoil Limited, one of the largest importers and distributors of base oil in Nigeria, serving local lubricant blending plants. Her businesses also include huge investment in real estate spanning major cities in the country with over 300 employees.
Iyabo Obasanjo
Gbemi Saraki
Gbemisola Ruqayyah Saraki is a senator elected to represent the People’s Democratic Party in the Central Senatorial District of Kwara State in April 2003. She was re-elected in 2007. She hardly honours party invitations due to her busy scheduled as a politician, yet, whenever she steps out, she controls the ambience with her teeming entourage and influence. Meanwhile, despite her wealth, her father’s influence and political status, the ever-radiant politician finds it difficult to manage her marriage to one Segun Fowora. After her divorce, she has remained single and waxing stronger in wealth and politics.
Hajia Aisha Guobadia
When you talk about a young and enterprising business women in Lagos, one of the very first names that comes to mind is Aisha Guobadia, the purveyor of Gold. So much in demand was her gold that her shop was the toast of the mighty and affluent in the society, from the very top of the military hierarchy to the civil society. Aisha is one of the very few Nigerians respected on the basis of her high and sophisticated taste in the business circle. Her new business line is interior decoration. The owner of St. Clair Ventures is also a single parent who is doing tremendously well in her newly discovered business.
Former Nigeria’s president Olusegun Obasanjo’s daughter, Iyabo Obasanjo, is another single parent who claims she left her marriage because she was not happy. And since the mother of one assumed political office, she hasn’t really had time for any other affair. Iyabo buries herself in her job that you hardly see her at social gatherings. Whether her status as a single woman will remain for life is still unknown. Going by her status and achievements, she has more than enough to bring into any marriage.
Princess Adenrele Ogunsanya’s
Still looking dashing at her age, former secretary to Lagos State government, Princess Adenrele Adeniran-Ogunsanya, is very dynamic in nature. Her carriage and poise stands far tall ahead of many in the political and social circles in the state. Little wonder her overwhelming popularity in Ikorodu Town, especially among the political juggernauts. A Chieftain of APC and a well respected woman in the society, Princess Ogunsanya, who is the Secretary General of Lagos State Women Forum, in the last few months, seems to have reaffirmed her leadership role in the political structure of Lagos East. Although Ikorodu town was not given the governorship slot, the beauty was at the forefront of clamouring for the area before it was given to Epe. Her family home in Oke Ota-Ona, Ikorodu, has become a mecca of sorts, with political bigwigs in the Senatorial district paying homage and holding strategic meetings with her. Many will recall that the father of the amiable woman, Chief Adeniran Ogunsanya, from whom she took her endearing social and political traits, was a frontline politician in the First Republic, as a chieftain of the National Council of Nigeria and Cameroon (NCNC).