President Tinubu Calls Aliko Dangote, Femi Otedola, Samad Rabiu, Jim Ovia, Nigeria's ‘Four Wise Men’

President Bola Tinubu on Thursday praised some of Nigeria’s business moguls, describing them as Nigeria's four “wise men.”

Jun 6, 2025 - 12:52

President Tinubu Calls Aliko Dangote, Femi Otedola, Samad Rabiu, Jim Ovia, Nigeria's ‘Four Wise Men’

President Bola Tinubu on Thursday praised some of Nigeria’s business moguls, describing them as Nigeria's four “wise men.”
Tinubu spoke during the commissioning of the access road to the Lekki Deep Sea Port in Lagos, noting further that the project was “a great phenomenon of our time.”
Describing the industrialists as "wise men," the president said, “I landed here with four wise men: Jim Ovia of Zenith Bank, who is acknowledged worldwide; Femi Otedola, my baby brother; Samad Rabiu of BUA.
“And I believe; the wisest of them all, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, who is so daring in thinking and doing and believing in his own country."
However, in a symbolic gesture, Dangote, named the main road leading to the refinery after Tinubu, during the event,

citing his “courageous” leadership and support for private sector development.
Among the who graced the occasion, included the Lagos State Deputy Governor,

Obafemi Hamzat, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu and the Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru, among others, even as Governor Sanwo-Olu might have been conspicuously absent, following last the ugly events of past few days when he was openly snubbed by the President who "refused" to shake hands with him. Tinubu skipped Sanwo -Olu and went straight to shake hands with the former governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello who was standing after him