VICTOR OKAFOR ALMOST 24 YEARS AFTER: THE STORY OF NIGERIA'S 🇳🇬 KING 👑 OF MONEY 💵.

Mention Victor Okafor and no one will twitch a muscle. But mention EZEGO, King of Money and you will see the eyes of many Nigerians light up with excitement. He would have been one of Africa’s billionaires. He was fair-skinned, spoke softly and warm smiles danced on his chubby cheeks accentuated by a not-too-bushy moustache. He was relatively very young but as at that time, he was very well-known and duly respected in the Nigerian business society.

Here is the story of a man of many sides, Chief Victor Nnamdi Okafor, the Eze Ego (King of Money) I of Ihiala aka Udu Bunch aka The Young Millionaire, the Igbo tycoon who died tragically at a time he was to be celebrating his birthday.

EARLY DAYS, EDUCATION AND GROWING UP
A first son and a native of Uzoakwa, Ihiala in Anambra State, the late Ezego was born on the 25th of December, 1964. Ezego’s story is often touted as one of the classic rags-to-riches stories in Nigeria. He had his primary school education at the Uzoakwa Primary School but he was forced to drop out in the secondary school, Abbot Boys’ Secondary School, Ihiala and eventually took to business.
His childhood was a very traumatic one and at a point, his own father reportedly disowned him when he was nabbed for being a member of a robbery gang that showed Onitsha traders hell on earth .

THE ESCAPE, BUSINESS AND MAKING MONEY
While some of his fellow gangsters were caught and punished, Ezego fled to Umumeni Village where his angry father was said to have driven him out. From there, he went to Umuduru, his mother’s village. However, things were not rosy for him at Umuduru and in 1989, he decided to move to Lagos where he joined a mentor. What happened years after that remain shrouded in mystery but the next time the world would be hearing of Ezego, he was already a multimillionaire, one of the crème de la crème of Lagos.

In Lagos, he set up the Ezego Shopping Complex on Allen Avenue (there was also a branch in Abuja) and also the Ezego Plaza on the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Road. From these spots, he operated and controlled one of the biggest electronics store in Nigeria. His other companies were Vic-Winners International Limited, Ezego Nigeria Limited, Ezego Holdings Limited, Vitex Zinc Co. Limited and Ezego Properties Limited

HIS WEALTH AND PROPERTY

Ezego built houses, villas and mansions all over the country, one of which was an made of glass. All his real estate as at 1999 outside Ihiala was put at about half a billion naira
The expansive mansion that served as his country home in Ihiala was worth another N500 million with the marble used for the walls imported from Italy.

A LOVER OF CARS

As at the time Ezego was alive, he had one of the largest private car garages in all of Africa. He loved cars and was always purchasing the latest ones stocking his garages at Ihiala and Lagos. A car freak of the first class, his garage alone was valued at almost one billion naira. He once dropped N14 million to acquire just two posh cars: a Sedan Lincoln Continental Mark 8 and a Mercedes Benz R230 convertible from Moontrends, owned by Tayo Ayeni.
Actually, as at the time of his death, he left behind countless state-of-the-art cars, 70 houses all over Nigeria and overseas and over N10 billion naira in his bank account.

LOVE, FAMILY, ROMANCE AND MARRIAGE

He was married to the fair-complexioned and beautiful Laurita Nkechi, a princess from Akata in Imo State and the marriage produced eight children. Following the death of her husband, Princess Nkechi relocated from Ajao Estate where she had stayed with her husband to Lekki. As at December 2013, it was reported by Nigeria Business Guide that she was taking her husband’s business empire to greater heights with her children in top universities around the globe.
By the way, Ezego’s first son was from a Japanese woman. He also fathered kids with other women apart from his wife,Nkechi On Thursday, 14th March, 2002, there was a case (Suit Number CA/E/166M/2000) before the Court of Appeal, Enugu Judicial Division and it was between Ezego’s wife and Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa on one hand as the appellants and Mrs. Elizabeth Onedibe, Citizens International Bank Limited, Zenith International Bank Limited and Diamond Bank Limited on the other hand as the respondents. Ezego had his accounts with these three banks.

HIS DEATH

On the 25th of December, 1999, death came knocking on Ezego’s door. But, he was not even aware in the slightest. Ezego’s birthday was on the 25th of December and it was his usual tradition to storm Ihiala, his hometown every Christmas for the double celebration (actually, it was a triple celebration: his birthday, Christmas and the New Year). His kinsmen and women in Ihiala eagerly awaited his annual homecoming which meant a lot of goodies for everyone. And so it was that fateful December of 1999. Ezego and everyone in his family were in high spirits and plans were fully made for the trip back home.
Ezego was in the habit of storming the sleepy, rustic hometown of Ihiala, impressing his people with his legendary wealth and affluence. Thus, the 1999 edition was no different. The whole of Nigeria would know that Ezego was in town. Some of the most sought-after musicians in the world’s most populous black nation were billed to entertain the guests at the most exciting galore of the year. Afrobeat maestro, Femi Kuti and his Positive Force Band were billed to dazzle the guests and rock the community to its very foundation.
To show how serious Ezego took the party, the moneybag personally visited the Afrikan Shrine to meet Femi Anikulapo-Kuti in order to ensure that all went on smoothly. The party was billed to start from the night of Christmas to the Boxing Day (26th) so Ezego decided to start his trip from Lagos on the 23rd of December. But little did he know that all his efforts were in vain. He was unconsciously planning for his own funeral. But what precisely happened?
On the 23rd of December, Ezego left Lagos as planned, heading towards the southeastern region of Nigeria. He took off in a most flashy style, in a convoy of six of his finest automobiles. These included a Lincoln Navigator (1999 model), limousine, blue Porsche, Lexus jeep, a Cherokee jeep and a latest Honda. The interesting thing about that fateful trip was that Ezego would normally fly to either Enugu or Port Harcourt where he would then be driven in a convoy to Ihiala. However, the fatal rates of air crashes during that period claimed to have made him change his mind. The outcome was disastrous for the mogul.
For some unknown reasons, Ezego decided to get behind his Lexus jeep in the convoy and drive himself all the way from Lagos to Ihiala. But somewhere along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, the first trouble reared its nasty head. Trouble started when the Cherokee’s jeep’s engine became faulty. But Ezego was in a hurry and could not even entertain the idea of missing his schedule and arriving on time. So he decided to keep ‘managing’ the jeep for as long as possible. But by the time the jeep got to Asaba in Delta State, the car broke down completely in the oil-rich state. Now, things were not getting funny anymore. Ezego was obviously in distress. His people were waiting for him back home so the carnival would start in earnest but here was his car that he shelled out of millions of naira for, giving him the worst headache of his life at a most unexpected moment.
But you know how dangerous Nigerian roads are . Ezego did not want to leave his cherished automobile in the middle of nowhere in Asaba at the mercy of robbers. Not the car he bought with so much money. So, he bellowed at one of his boys to purchase a chain so the jeep would be towed. The lad returned with the chain, which was then attached to the faulty jeep. However, that was the beginning of his problem because Ezego was said to have insisted on towing the broken-down

NO BE TODAY WICKEDNESS BY RECORD LABELS START

The Story of the Epic Battle Between King Sunny Ade and Chief Bolarinwa Abioro

It was in 1974 that the news broke. Chief Bolarinwa Abioro, the Balogun of Ipokia, the Chairman of African Songs Limited, had taken his star musician to court! Everyone who knew KSA knew Abioro. Everyone who knew Abioro knew Sunday Adeniyi. Sunny was the son. Abioro was the father. What could have gone wrong between father and son?

KSA was the second artiste to be signed on to the stable of African Songs Limited. Ayinde Bakare was the first. Sikiru Ayinde Barrister was the third. Like most creative people, young Sunny Ade was more concerned about his passion and less concerned about the business aspect of music. His passion was to play music and to excel as a musician.

It was enough that Abioro – one of the biggest men in the music industry at the time – was ready to promote him. They brought documents for Sunny and his band boys to sign. They called it a contract. It could have been called any other name for all that KSA cared. Won ni ko wa je saara, o ni ojo ti wonu ju. Se ata ni won ni ko mu wa ni, abi iyo. You are invited to a free feast, you are complaining about the short notice, are they asking you to bring salt or pepper? Sunny Ade and his boys didn’t hesitate. It is doubtful if any of them read what the contract said. The most important thing was that they were going to become recording artistes. Sunny signed. His band boys signed. Everybody was happy.

The contract was for 5 years. However before its expiration, KSA had become a household name. His album, Challenge Cup, sold in excess of 500,000 copies. It was certain that King Sunny Ade was going to dominate the music scene for a very long time to come. African Songs Ltd knew a good product when it saw one. The management of the company didn’t wait for the first contract to expire before they brought a new contract.

The new agreement was carefully worded. KSA and his band boys agreed to perform and record exclusively for ASL for a period of five years. ASL had full copyrights to all compositions and recordings of Sunny Ade. ASL was entitled to the sole right of production, reproduction, and use of King Sunny Ade’s performance throughout the world. That was not all. During the period of the agreement, KSA was prohibited from rendering any performance whatsoever to himself, any company or group of persons. The contract also stipulated that ASL had the option to renew the agreement at its expiration for a further term of two years or for any longer period. Sunny Ade had no such right.
That was not all. On the sale of every album which price was then fixed at N6.00, KSA and his boys were entitled to a princely sum of 20 kobo. Yes, you read that right. African Songs would go home with the remaining N5. 80 kobo. Onigegewura’s mathematics has never been good. He is just an amateur historian. You can do the sum yourself.

Still basking in the euphoria of his growing fame, Sunny gratefully signed again. His band boys signed. 20 kobo was still something. Orogun iya re da sokoto fun o, o ni ko bale, melo ni iya to bi o da fun o? You are complaining that the trousers made for you by your step-mother was not long enough, where is the one your own mother made for you? They were expecting their 20 kobo royalty on every album. Well, when the time came for actual payment, it was then discovered that mathematically and arithmetically, it was not supposed to be 20 kobo. They had not factored the cost of publicity and promotion! And since it was the artiste that was being promoted, he must be the one to bear the cost! After the addition and subtraction, Sunny was given 15 kobo per album.

KSA was not Chike Obi, the mathematician. But he knew that 20 kobo and 15 kobo were not the same thing. Compared with his contemporaries in the music industry, KSA realized that he was holding the short end of the stick. His colleague, Baba Commander,
Chief Ebenezer Obey was earning as high as 70 kobo per album. Others were earning between 35 kobo and 60 kobo.

That was when Sunny decided to ask Chief Abioro for a raise of the royalty payment. The chairman listened patiently to KSA and his colleagues. He was nodding as they canvassed one reason after another why a raise was in order. When they finished, Chief Abioro flipped open a file he had on his table. He brought out a bundle of documents. Even from where he was seated across the table, Sunny saw that it was a copy of the contract he signed. “An agreement is an agreement. It is a binding contract!” The chief informed them. “This is what you signed. This is what you are entitled to! No more, No less.” He returned the documents to the file. Case dismissed.

But Sunny was not done. “Chief, this is not about contract. You are our father. Our request is for adequate compensation! Let’s leave the contract aside.” Chief Abioro looked at the young star the way a parent looks at a child asking for another candy. “Leave the contract aside? We should leave the contract aside?” The chairman asked incredulously. “You know, it would be nice to leave the contract aside. But you know what? That would be illegal!”
Haba! Illegality ke! . It was then that someone brought up the idea of requesting some of his friends to plead their case. Sunny agreed. After all, Eni ti o mo oju Ogun, ni pa obi ni ‘re. It is the person who is conversant with Ogun, the god of iron, that is usually given the duty to administer its rites. They went to meet Prince Okunade Sijuwade who would later become the Ooni of Ife. They also met with Chief Afolabi Joseph. Even Chief Ebenezer Obey was also requested to intervene as well as Chief Nurudeen Alowonle.

The eminent persons appeared in the court of the Balogun of Ipokia as ‘amici curiae’ on behalf of the musicians. Amici curiae are lawyers invited by the judge(s) to assist in filling briefs that may be helpful to the court in deciding a case. Our eminent persons argued their case like experienced advocates. They cited relevant sections of the unwritten Yoruba constitution. They cited Yoruba proverbs. They made reference to the story of Oduduwa. The presiding chairman listened to their submissions and summarily dismissed the case. Contract is contract!

Chief did not only dismiss the request for a raise. He opened another file on his table and brought out a new set of documents. Your guess is right! A new five-year contract! By now, Sunny Ade had learnt enough law. He had become a professional mathematician. He had obtained his Master of Business Administration from practical experience. He knew the implication of putting pen to paper. He applied for an adjournment.

The King of African Beats found himself in a quandary. His new songs were ready but Chief had threatened not to release any new album until he signed the new contract. And KSA was not ready to sign any new contract until the issue of royalty was resolved.

KSA remembered his grandmother’s proverb. Ti abiku ba gbon ogbon ati ku ni igba erun, iya abiku a gbon ogbon ati sin oku e si etido. If an abiku decided to die during the dry season when he knew that the ground would be hard to dig, his parents would also decide to bury him by the riverside where the ground would not be hard to dig.

Sunny Ade decided to release his record with another company. His plan was to use the album to bargain for a better deal with African Songs. Instead of the measly 20 kobo, he was confident that the chairman would be ready to pay him at least N1.00 per copy. The album was recorded in Nigeria but taken to London for mixing. What Sunny Ade did not know was that Chief Abioro was a master at the game. Before Sunny could get a copy of his own album, Chief Abioro was already in possession of the new record.

Baba Ibeji was composing fresh materials at home when the court bailiffs arrived. They served him with an order of interim injunction! The court order was as

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